


Coi Sa Pai

by butterflyslinky



Category: Atop the Fourth Wall
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dubious Consent, Explicit Sexual Content, Multi, Sex Pollen, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 05:52:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 18
Words: 23,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6362017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflyslinky/pseuds/butterflyslinky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jaeris, biologically, goes into heat. While he's in Linkara's house. As Linkara and Jaeris try to figure out what to do next, they discover new feelings and the guilt that comes with them. Oh, and there are aliens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Started as a fill on the TGWTG Kink Meme and spiraled out of control.

Linkara knew his life was weird. It was part of the territory of being an Internet reviewer. He was used to intergalactic conquerors and mad scientists and ghosts and aliens. He had learned to expect things to attack him every few months.

Which was why it wasn’t weird to have a man from another dimension in his living room helping to reinforce the force fields. It had taken a few months, but Jaeris had warmed up to Linkara and his ragtag crew, and had started coming around to help out with their projects, possibly to make Linkara feel guilty, more likely because the gunslinger was bored and had a decent background in defensive technology. No, that wasn’t weird at all.

What was weird was when Jaeris suddenly doubled over, panting as though he had just run a mile.

Linkara immediately stopped what he was doing. “Jaeris?” he asked, fearfully. “Are you okay?”

Jaeris looked up at Linkara, and without any warning, kissed the comic reviewer.

Linkara froze. Whatever the fangirls said, he usually didn’t go around kissing other men (at least, not while sober) and he certainly didn’t randomly make out with people who not long ago had wanted to kill him. Not that it was a bad kiss—Jaeris clearly knew what he was doing, and it had been a while since Linkara had been with anyone, male or female.

Jaeris pulled back, looking very apologetic. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I couldn’ help…”

“What… what… what…” Linkara found himself unable to form a coherent sentence, especially since Jaeris chose that moment to start running his lips up and down Linkara’s neck, the gunslinger’s hands running up under his shirt.

“It’s called ‘coi sa pai’ on my world,” Jaeris murmured against Linkara’s skin. “Where I come from, people go through it once every three months, and it means you physically need… as in you can’ stop yourself from takin’ the closest person to you. I’ve been noticin’ the symptoms for a few days, but I didn’ think…” He was halfway through getting Linkara’s shirt off of him.

Linkara caught Jaeris’s wrists and pushed him back. “What happens if you don’t… if you don’t have sex while going through it?” he asked.

“Pain,” Jaeris answered. “Fevers. Hallucinations. Might break out in a rash. And my temper certainly won’ be helped. I’m sorry, I shoulda prepared… all the dimension-jumpin’ has made it hard to keep track of time, especially when all the universes move on different time-scales. I don’ wanna hurt you…”

Linkara nodded. “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s not about hurting me.” He looked at Jaeris carefully. “I don’t mind helping my friends, with whatever they need,” he said. “But is this really what you want? If you can’t control it… I don’t want to take advantage of you, especially since…”

“She’ll understand,” Jaeris said. “She told me before I left that if I find myself in the middle of it, to do what I need. She’ll be doin’ what she needs… about now, actually, we got synced a while back.”

“But do you really want...? It’s not consent if you’re not in control.”

Jaeris managed to pull his hands away from Linkara’s grasp. “On my world, consent during coi sa pai is incidental,” he said. “If you agree to do this with me, I won’ blame you after it’s over. I’ll prob’ly even thank you.”

“How long will it last?” Linkara asked as Jaeris returned to his ministrations.

“About twenty-four hours, if we take care of it right away. If you don’ want…”

Linkara caught Jaeris by the face and kissed him. It was the least he could do, the comic reviewer decided. If he hadn’t destroyed that watch, they wouldn’t be in this situation. “Bedroom?” he asked once they broke apart.

Jaeris nodded and Linkara pulled him to his feet to take him there.

The door had barely closed when Jaeris pushed Linkara up against it, kissing him again, pressing against him, catching Linkara’s wrists and pinning them over his head. Linkara did not resist, merely kissed back, allowing Jaeris to take what he needed, not protesting as the gunslinger suddenly swung him around and shoved him onto the bed. It was only when his hat and glasses had been pulled off and tossed to the bedside table that Linkara’s brain caught up with the situation and began to object.

 _This is wrong,_ he thought as Jaeris pulled his shirt off and started kissing down his chest.

 _I shouldn’t let him do this,_ he thought as Jaeris flicked his tongue against one nipple.

 _He’s not really in control,_ he thought as Jaeris started tugging at his belt buckle.

 _I can stop this now,_ he thought as his pants were yanked off of him.

_But then he’ll be in pain…_

Jaeris did something with his mouth that came pretty damn close to shorting out Linkara’s concentration entirely, and what little was left told the comic lover that Jaeris needed this, that denying him would hurt him more. So Linkara let Jaeris touch him, and after a few minutes, he even allowed himself to touch Jaeris back. The gunslinger’s clothes were gone and his braid was undone in a few minutes and Linkara was kissing his neck and winding his arms around Jaeris’s waist and they were pressed so close that Linkara could tell just how urgent this coi sa pai business was.

Jaeris pulled back and stared down at Linkara. “I need to…”

“I know.” Linkara closed his eyes and spread his legs apart. “Do what you have to do.”

“You sure you don’…?”

“I told you. This isn’t about me.”

That was all the confirmation Jaeris needed to slip his fingers into Linkara, stretching and spreading him. Linkara bit his lip to keep from crying out, not because Jaeris was hurting him, but because there was a sudden amount of pleasure spreading through him and he did not want to alert any of his roommates to what was going on.

Jaeris suddenly hissed, pulling his fingers out and moving forward. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, before suddenly thrusting into Linkara, who couldn’t hold back the cry that ripped from his throat in that moment. Jaeris was anything but gentle. His thrusts were fast but deep, his mouth was busy biting along Linkara’s collar bone, and his hands gripped Linkara by the hips so hard that Linkara was certain there would be bruises where the gunslinger’s fingers were pressing. Linkara didn’t offer any other protest, did not struggle as Jaeris took him, did nothing but meet Jaeris’s thrusts as best he could.

Jaeris’s mouth moved up to Linkara’s neck and he started whispering what sounded like “I’m sorry” over and over as one of his hands moved down to Linkara’s cock and started to jerk him off. Linkara tried to show that it was all right, pressed himself closer, but Jaeris didn’t seem to notice. A minute later, Linkara came with another sharp cry. Jaeris followed a moment later, gasping something that sounded vaguely like a woman’s name, though it may have been another apology.

They lay together for a few minutes, Linkara running a hand through Jaeris’s hair as the gunslinger buried his face in Linkara’s neck. Linkara could feel tears against his neck, but he didn’t say anything. There was really nothing that could be said.

After a bit, Jaeris pushed himself up on his elbows. “I hope you get your energy back quickly,” he said.

“How quickly?”

“Usually durin’ coi sa pai, my wife and I do this every half-hour or so until the twenty-four hours are up. I think I could wait longer, but…”

“Every half-hour?” Linkara repeated. “That’s…”

“I know. You up for that?”

Linkara stared for a moment. “I don’t think I really have a choice.”

Jaeris shook his head. “You always have a choice. I won’ force you.”

“Still…” He took a deep breath to steady himself. “Ready when you are.”

*

Linkara stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out if his legs still worked. He didn’t think so, somehow, though he had learned in the last twenty-four hours that he was lot more flexible than he had originally thought. Jaeris had barely slowed down at all during the course of his coi sa pai, and Linkara was certain of two things. The first was that he could not be able to get out of bed for the next day and a half. The second was that even if he managed to get up, he would not be able to sit normally for at least a week.

And the worst part was, in spite of the fact that his body ached almost everywhere, Linkara couldn’t bring himself to be upset about it. The first few rounds had been pretty good, and even the ones after that weren’t too bad. It wasn’t until Jaeris was pressing him into the mattress for the sixth time that it occurred to Linkara that they really ought to slow down—coi sa pai apparently gave Jaeris unlimited energy, and Linkara certainly did not have that— but it was a bit too late to object at that point, so Linkara allowed the next few to happen without complaint. Around the thirteenth time, Linkara had started to hurt more than usual, and had started to protest. To his credit, Jaeris did slow down after that, his love-making becoming gentler, his refractory periods longer, but by the time the twenty-four hours were up, Linkara was still aching and exhausted, but still… well, satisfied was probably the wrong word for it, but he wasn’t unhappy.

Linkara had fallen asleep almost immediately after it was over, and Jaeris had passed out not long after, but now Linkara was awake and trying to decide if he should make an effort to get out of bed.

He shifted experimentally, and Jaeris’s eyes flew open. Linkara stopped moving. If they were going to attempt to have a morning after conversation, they might as well do it now.

“Mornin’,” Jaeris murmured. “Or… whatever this is.”

“Afternoon,” Linkara said. “Around four-ish.”

There was an awkward silence.

“Feel better?” Linkara asked after a minute.

Jaeris nodded. “Thanks for…”

“No problem.”

Another awkward silence.

“Linkara…”

“If you say you’re sorry one more time, I will push you off this bed. I told you it was okay.”

Jaeris smiled. “I know you did.” He hesitated. “How d’you feel?”

Linkara shrugged. “I’m all right. Might have some trouble walking for the next few days, but I’ll be fine.”

“You’re gonna have to do somethin’ about your neck.”

“You did bruise it pretty badly yesterday.”

“I’m…”

“Jaeris.”

“Right.” He hesitated. “So… I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. And try to keep track of when this will happen next.”

“Don’ wanna go through all that again?”

“Just want to be prepared.”

They did not speak again as Jaeris got up and dressed. Linkara watched him, wishing he could say more, but with nothing else to say. As soon as he had managed to dress and re-braid his hair, Jaeris beamed out.

Linkara sighed as he closed his eyes and sank back into bed. He knew he would have to get up. He knew he would have to get on with his life. He knew he would have to see Jaeris again. He knew that whatever it was that had happened between them would have to be addressed.

Eventually. But right now, Linkara needed to rest and prepare himself for the next time.


	2. Chapter 2

The moment he got back to his house, Jaeris collapsed on the couch, the events of the night before running through his mind on repeat. He wasn’t angry—he knew that he had come on to Linkara, that Linkara was still trying to help him in any way he could, that any damage that had been done was his own damn fault—but he didn’t feel particularly good about himself right then. Maybe it was the fact that he had slept with someone who wasn’t Ayla, even if she had encouraged it, or maybe it was the fact that whatever he said, Jaeris knew that he could have hurt Linkara and would have done so if he had to, in spite of reassuring the man that he wouldn’t.  
  


Jaeris knew he was a good man. Nothing else would have driven him to leave his world and seek out weapons to use against the system. But he had also seen the effects of coi sa pai not being responded to right away. It was an every day occurrence in his world, and he couldn’t count the number of people who had gotten off of serious charges because of that defense. Jaeris knew he was lucky that Linkara had agreed to help him with it.

His thoughts were interrupted by Sierra’s voice. “Master? Is everything all right?”  
  


“Yeah,” Jaeris said. “Just had somethin’ to take care of.”  
  


“You have been gone for almost thirty-six hours and you have injuries. Do you require assistance?”  
  


“Injuries?” Jaeris got up to look at himself in the mirror. His neck was covered with marks Linkara had left early in the proceedings. “No, Sierra, I’m fine.” He smiled wryly. “I’m just fine.”  
  


*  
  


It took a good two hours for Linkara to finally drag himself out of bed, wincing at every movement. He supposed it was his own fault, not just for going along with Jaeris’s need, but for not asking that they slow down sooner. Not that he didn’t sympathize with Jaeris’s[desperation](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/884347.html#), but being fucked into a [mattress](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/884347.html#) repeatedly for twenty-four hours was a bit much, especially given Jaeris’s tendency to be rather rough.

He looked in the mirror and flinched. His neck and chest were covered in hickeys, his arms and hips were covered in hand prints, his legs were shaking so much that Linkara was shocked he was able to stand at all, and his entire body was glistening with sweat and other fluids. With a groan, Linkara grabbed a bathrobe and a pile of clean clothes and staggered into the bathroom, grateful that he didn’t meet anyone in the hall. He showered, trying to clear his head, or at least make sense of what had happened, but after half-an-hour, he was just as confused as ever. Nobly sparing an ally pain aside, why on earth had he agreed to sleep with Jaeris? And why had it been… well, good was probably the wrong adjective to use here, but not bad?  
  


Linkara shook his head. It was probably a bad idea to think about that too much. He was just doing something good for Jaeris. He dressed and headed to the [kitchen](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/884347.html#), hoping some form of caffeine would help him sort out his thoughts.

Harvey and 90’s Kid were sitting at the table talking, though they broke off abruptly as Linkara entered. 90’s Kid turned a rather interesting shade of red and Harvey gave Linkara a look that clearly said that he knew what had happened in the last day and a half. Not that it was that big of a secret—Linkara had tried to be quiet, but he had ultimately failed, and his coat didn’t completely obscure the marks on his neck. Linkara glared at his teammates and staggered over to the coffee maker.  
  


“Jaeris gone home, then?” Harvey asked.  
  


Linkara glared at Harvey. “Yes.” He didn’t like how accusatory Harvey had sounded.  
  


“You know, Kid…”  
  


“Probably.”  
  


“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to sleep with former enemies.”  
  


90’s Kid turned even redder. “Okay, uh, I need to go, um, like, clean my skateboard so I’ll just, you know…” He made a hasty retreat from the kitchen.  
  


Linkara watched 90’s Kid go before turning back to Harvey. “Let’s make a few things clear, Harvey. First, Jaeris is not our enemy. Any animosity we had toward each other in the past is long gone. Second, who I associate with and what I do with them is my business, not yours. I’m sorry we made so much noise, if that’s what’s bothering you. It won’t happen again.”  
  


“It’s not the noise that bothers me,” Harvey muttered. “It’s the idea of you doing something like this that could hurt you. Even if he’s not an enemy…”  
  


“I’ll deal with my sex life myself, thank you,” Linkara snapped. “As to last night, it was a fluke. An accident.”  
  


“Do you mean to keep seeing him?”  
  


“Have to, don’t I? I promised to get him home.”  
  


“Romantically?”  
  


Linkara paused. He didn’t know what to think about that. On the one hand, sleeping with Jaeris had not been an unpleasant experience, but Linkara wasn’t entirely sure that it was an experience he wanted to repeat any time soon, if only for his own physical health. And he was pretty sure that Jaeris wasn’t too eager to do it again, either. Then again, it wasn’t like Linkara hadn’t enjoyed at least part of it, and even without alien hormones, Jaeris was fairly attractive…  
  


“I don’t know yet,” Linkara said.   
  


Harvey studied him for a moment. “Okay, then,” the singer finally said, and he headed out.  
  


*  
  


Harvey didn’t make a habit of interfering with other people’s choices. He knew that he had made some bad decisions himself and he would be a major hypocrite for calling out others for theirs. Especially when it came to things like having sex with questionable people.  
  


But that didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to disapprove of other’s choices. And Linkara’s encounter with Jaeris was definitely something Harvey disapproved of.  
  


Harvey walked down the street, smoking a cigarette, wishing there was some way he could ensure Linkara’s safety without seeming over-protective. And admittedly, he was, a bit, but when someone tries to kill your kid one day and then beds him the next…  
  


He found himself at the Palace, even though he couldn’t remember deciding to go there. He sat down at the bar and ordered a drink distractedly.  
  


“Something wrong, Mr. Finevoice?” Dominic asked.  
  


“What makes you think that?” Harvey asked.  
  


“You look like a man whose teenaged daughter is dating a juvenile delinquent.”  
  


Harvey snorted. “Close enough,” he muttered.  
  


“Want to talk about it?”  
  


Harvey sighed. He didn’t know what it was about Dominic that made people open up, but the bartender had a knack for getting information. “Linkara’s started sleeping with someone I don’t like,” he admitted.   
  


“I see,” Dominic said. “But isn’t Linkara a grown man?”  
  


“Yeah,” Harvey conceded. “But it doesn’t make it less frustrating. And I just don’t know what to do.”  
  


“You don’t have to do anything,” Dominic said. “You should trust him.”  
  


“I do trust Linkara,” Harvey said. “I just don’t trust his new beau.”  
  


*  
  


It was all Linkara could do not to beat his head against the doorframe. Of course the others had heard. They lived in a three-bedroom apartment. It was hard not to hear anything that was going on. Linkara made a mental note to soundproof his room soon, especially if this was going to keep happening.  
  


And of course Harvey didn’t approve. Why would he? Jaeris wasn’t exactly the type of man you’d take home to your mother; he was dangerous and impulsive and temperamental and rough and funny and attractive and…  
  


Okay, that train of thought had gone on for long enough. Just because Linkara had sex with Jaeris didn’t mean that he was suddenly attracted to him. Didn’t mean that he wanted to go to Jaeris and find out how it felt without coi sa pai forcing the issue. Didn’t mean that he was already looking at the calendar on his phone so he could make sure they’d do it again…

Crap.


	3. Chapter 3

Jaeris didn’t go to Linkara’s again for almost a week. Not because he was avoiding the comic fan on purpose—definitely not, Jaeris could handle meeting people he had randomly slept with, it wasn’t awkward at all. No, he just had no reason to go back there. No reason at all except for the force field upgrades they had abandoned in favor of other activities. And if Linkara really needed him to go finish those, he’d call.   
  


It wasn’t because in the last week, Jaeris had been thinking way too hard about the man who had stranded him in this foreign universe. About the way Linkara had apologized ten thousand times about destroying that watch. About all the things Linkara had done to make sure Jaeris was healthy and happy in this world, right up to the point where he’d laid down and opened his legs for Jaeris, allowing him to do horribly depraved things to him with no thought to his own health until it was far too late to stop it. About how Linkara really was kind of handsome and how he looked even better when spread out on the bed, face flushed, eyes blown wide as he reached his peak…  
  


No, that wasn’t why Jaeris had hidden himself in his house for days. That wasn’t why he hadn’t spoken to anyone, not even Sierra. That wasn’t why he kept glancing at the communicator Linkara had given him, both hoping for and dreading the moment Linkara would contact him about finishing the force fields.

But after five days of not talking to Linkara, Jaeris simply couldn’t take it anymore. This—whatever it was—needed to be addressed, needed to be worked out between them.  
  


“Sierra,” Jaeris called.  
  


“Oh, you’re speaking to me again?”  
  


Jaeris frowned. “Yeah, I guess. I’m goin’ out.”  
  


“Understood. I will watch over the house until your return, Master.”  
  


“Thanks.” Jaeris grabbed his hat and coat and headed out the door. He could have just teleported over, but he had ended up landing his house not too far from Linkara’s apartment and he wanted to walk. It would give him time to think, to work out what he was could possibly say.  
  


No, he knew why he was going. He needed to help with the force fields. Even if Linkara hadn’t called him in for that purpose, it needed to be done, and Jaeris somehow doubted that Linkara had done it himself. They weren’t going to talk about what had happened. They weren’t going to work out what their relationship was now. They certainly weren’t going to do anything like that again.  
  


Linkara wouldn’t want that. Linkara couldn’t possibly have any reason to pursue a relationship beyond the one they already had. And Jaeris didn’t want one. Not at all. He had a wife, even if she was several universes away. Even if he wasn’t sure how long he had been away from her, if she had given him up and moved on…  
  


Jaeris cursed as he found himself at Linkara’s building much sooner than he would have liked, but he opened the door and went upstairs anyway. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. He counted to ten before it opened and he found himself staring into the cold blue eyes of the singer—Harvey, Jaeris recalled.  
  


Harvey’s eyes grew even colder when he looked at Jaeris. “Oh, it’s you,” he said. “What d’you want?”  
  


Jaeris swallowed. He was used to large, scary men—during the rebellion, before he started dashing across the multiverse, he had once downed fifteen government hitmen in under an hour— but Harvey still managed to intimidate him. Maybe it was the accent, maybe it was the eyes, or maybe it was the fact that Jaeris had been around the community enough to hear the rumors about how a successful singer from Chicago had ended up living in a place like Shoreview. “I’m just here to check the force fields,” Jaeris said innocently.   
  


Harvey glared. “Is that what they call it now?” He sighed. “The Kid’s in his office.”  
  


“Thanks.” Jaeris entered the apartment and tried to look casual as he went to the office and knocked on the door.  
  


“If Minneapolis isn’t on fire, I don’t want to hear it,” Linkara snapped. He sounded almost as confused and upset as Jaeris felt.  
  


“I jus’ wanna know if the force fields are holdin’ up,” Jaeris called.  
  


There was a pause before the door opened. Linkara looked awful. The hickeys hadn’t quite faded from his neck and his legs were still shaking a little. There were bags under his eyes and his face was drawn and pale. Jaeris wondered if Linkara had slept at all in the last five days.  
  


They stared at each other for a few minutes, both trying to figure out what to say. After a moment, Linkara jerked his head. “You should probably come in.”  
  


Jaeris nodded and went inside. Linkara shut the door behind him and they sat down on the futon, not looking at each other. Jaeris wet his lips, trying to decide what he wanted to say, but Linkara broke the silence first.  
  


“So… force fields,” he said. “Um, yeah, we didn’t finish them… do you want to work on them now or…” He trailed off.   
  


Jaeris sighed. He couldn’t keep pretending, couldn’t keep avoiding the issue. “Linkara,” he said. “About what happened… before… I… we need to figure it out.”  
  


“What is there to figure out?” Linkara snapped. “You had a problem, we fixed it, it’s over. And I’ve got Pollo and Linksano working round the clock to get you home so that the next time you can be back with your wife—”  
  


“Linkara,” Jaeris said firmly. “You know it’s not over. You know that… it’s more complicated that that.” He looked at Linkara seriously. “I hurt you. I didn’ mean to, but I did, and…”  
  


“Don’t you dare apologize,” Linkara said. “I let you. I gave my consent… in my own mind. If anything, I’m the one who should be sorry. You weren’t thinking straight, I took advantage of you…”  
  


Jaeris laughed. “You think that you took advantage of me?” he asked. “I’m the one who fucked you until you couldn’t walk.”  
  


“It wasn’t what you wanted,” Linkara said. “It wasn’t consent. I’ve been thinking about it and it’s just so wrong that I did that…”  
  


Jaeris sighed. “I suppose I oughta explain a little more about coi sa pai, shouldn’t I?”  
  


Linkara didn’t answer, so Jaeris kept talking. “It’s like I said before. We go through it once every three months. It’s a way of makin’ sure that we reproduce—though there are times when that doesn’t happen, of course. Anyway, it’s somethin’ natural, and if someone’s goin’ through it, there is literally nothin’ you can do to stop them from takin’ someone else. So what happened was entirely my fault.”  
  


“You told me then that you wouldn’t hurt me if I didn’t let you.”  
  


“I was sayin’ anythin’ that could get me in your pants right then. If you hadn’ let me… I can’ guarantee I wouldn’ have… I’ve never been with an unwillin’ partner when it’s hit, so I don’ know what I woulda done if you had said no.”  
  


Linkara shook his head. “I don’t believe you would have hurt me,” he said. “And if you had tried, I could have stopped you.” He hesitated. “When does it start?” he asked.  
  


“It varies, but typically around fifteen or sixteen. It gets more… intense as you get older, but it stops around fifty. And I can’t tell you how many people in their twenties and thirties get away with takin’ others against their will because of it.”  
  


Linkara nodded. “It sounds awful.”  
  


“Doesn’ help that the government is pretty strict about everythin’. Gods help the people who get hit with it in public and have to hurry to find a place to take care of it.”  
  


“So it’s a good thing you were already here when it happened.”  
  


“Yeah.” Jaeris glanced back at Linkara. He looked a little calmer. “You gonna be all right?”  
  


Linkara nodded again. “I think so,” he said. “I mean, you did the best you could. And I’m sorry that I haven’t talked to you before, it’s just…”  
  


“I know.” They sat in silence for a moment. “So… force fields.”  
  


They would be all right. Jaeris knew they would. They wouldn’t be the same, but they would be fine.  
  


He wondered why all right didn’t sound good.


	4. Chapter 4

Linkara certainly felt better after talking to Jaeris. He didn’t feel great—he knew that their relationship was still complicated because of this and it was very confusing—but he didn’t feel quite as upset as before. And he didn’t dread talking to Jaeris anymore, which was helpful since the [force](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/886490.html#) fields needed more work than Linkara had initially thought. They spent the next two days working on them, but by the end, the base was more secure than it had ever been.

And once that was done, they had almost gotten back to where they had been before. They were talking normally and doing their best to act as though nothing had happened. Jaeris didn’t seem eager to pursue the subject once they had spoken, and Linkara didn’t want to push him.  
  


And that would have worked if Linkara’s mind didn’t keep going back to it, remembering Jaeris’s hands—forceful, but so soft, like the gunslinger had never done a day of work in his life—his lips—bruising, but warm and inviting—the way he whispered to Linkara when they had made love, apologizing while at the same time making Linkara feel more pleasure than he had in a long time. Linkara often found himself going over the details, especially late at night when everyone had gone to bed, when Linkara would find himself lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, hand wrapped around his cock, wishing …  
  


But no. He knew Jaeris didn’t want anything more from him. One day of passion was all that they would ever have. Jaeris had quietly assured Linkara after they had addressed the issue that he would keep better track of his cycle so he wouldn’t be around when it happened next. Linkara had nodded, though he knew that it would be difficult for Jaeris to be on his own. But it wouldn’t happen again for a few more months anyway. Nothing was going on. Absolutely nothing.  
  


And if Linkara found himself wanting to pin Jaeris to the floor and kiss him until neither could breathe, that was his own problem. And if that desire only got stronger the more Linkara saw Jaeris, there was nothing that could be done about it.   
  


Absolutely nothing.  
  


*  
  


Jaeris wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to stand it.  
  


They had agreed to go back to normal, to never speak of it again once everything was settled. And they had. The hickeys had faded, Linkara no longer looked exhausted, there was no outward sign that anything had changed. But it had. Everything was different and Jaeris couldn’t stand it.  
  


He couldn’t stand the fact that he desperately wanted Linkara again. Coi sa pai aside, Jaeris found that he had grown quite fond of the comic reviewer, and there were days when Jaeris would look at him and be tempted to push him down and take him right then and there and not care about who was [watching](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/886490.html#).  
  


But he couldn’t. Linkara didn’t want that—he couldn’t. And when had Jaeris’s feeling towards Linkara changed that much, anyway? He had a wife, he had Ayla, and he loved her and he wasn’t just going to throw her over for the man who had permanently separated them.  
  


He kept telling himself that for days, trying not to allow himself to grab Linkara and kiss him and fuck him until he couldn’t think. Whenever those thoughts surfaced, he would push them down with thoughts of Ayla, reminding himself that he had to stay loyal to her as much as he could.  
  


But when he was with Linkara, or when he watched Linkara’s show, he found himself smiling against his will, laughing at even the worst of Linkara’s jokes, staring at Linkara with a softer expression than he’d ever had before, admiring him…  
  


Jaeris groaned as he thought about it. He was in way over his head.  
  


Again.  
  


*

If Harvey had to watch this any more, he was going to scream.  
  


True, he still didn’t approve of Jaeris and certainly didn’t think that Linkara should be seeing him romantically, but Harvey only had so much patience for watching Linkara beat himself up over things, and even less for watching Linkara hopelessly moon over someone without doing anything about it.   
  


And whatever Linkara tried to pretend, Harvey knew that the hero was not fine by any means, that he was still thinking about whatever had happened with Jaeris, and that it wasn’t going to be all right between them until they did something about it.  
  


It had been almost a month since it had happened when Harvey found himself sitting in Linkara’s office, playing Pokémon and occasionally glancing at Linkara, who was trying to edit an episode while stopping every few minutes to stare off into space and sigh. After an hour of this, Harvey finally broke the silence.  
  


“Go see him.”  
  


“What?” Linkara spun his chair around and stared at Harvey.  
  


“Jaeris. You’re still thinking about him and you need to talk to him.”  
  


“What… I… it’s not like that.”

“Oh? You’ve been moping around ever since you two talked it out like you’re disappointed at the result. You stare at him like he’s the only guy in the world whenever he’s nearby. You’re mooning like a schoolgirl and you’re barely sleeping at night. So either you’re really upset about what happened or you’re still in love with him. Either way, you have to go see him.”  
  


“I’m not in love with him!”  
  


“Kid, I’ve been around and trust me, you are. And I refuse to sit here and watch you suffer when you can at least have a shot at happiness!”  
  


“I thought you didn’t like him.”  
  


“I don’t. Doesn’t mean you can’t love him.”  
  


“He’s a married man…”  
  


“Didn’t stop him from taking you when the urge struck.”  
  


“It could never work! I destroyed his life, he’d never take me…”  
  


“Do you know that? He said he’s forgiven you. Maybe he’ll be willing to be more than friends if you ask.”

“I can’t, Harvey, I just can’t…”  
  


“You can’t sit around here feeling sorry for yourself, either. So here’s the deal, Kid. You go tell that guy you’re over the moon for him or I will.” Harvey stood up. “You got ‘til next week and then I’m bringing him back here for you two to work this out.”  
  


“You wouldn’t dare.”  
  


“Wouldn’t I?” With that, Harvey left the room. Linkara stared after him for a minute before spinning back around and doubling his efforts on the review.


	5. Chapter 5

Two days later, Linkara was ready to admit that Harvey may have had a point. No matter how he tried to put Jaeris out of his mind, the gunslinger refused to go away, and if he didn’t do something soon, he was going to crack. One way or another, he had to tell Jaeris that he wanted…needed more.

 

But he wasn’t just going to rush in there unprepared. It was like a battle—no, it was a battle. Just because it didn’t involve guns or spaceships or the fate of the world didn’t mean that it wasn’t going to be difficult or that it didn’t need planning. Linkara spent the rest of the day planning, deciding what to say, how to act, what to do to maximize the chances of Jaeris returning his affections, what to do at the inevitable moment of rejection. After thinking through every imaginable scenario, Linkara put on his coat and headed outside. He didn’t want to just beam in in case Jaeris didn’t want to see him.

 

He got there fairly quickly and knocked on the door. He closed his eyes and mentally counted the seconds, trying to keep himself calm. He could do this. Whatever happened next, at least he would have tried. Even if Jaeris threw him out and refused to speak to him ever again, at least he would have tried.

 

The door opened a moment later to reveal a slightly-disheveled Jaeris, obviously just dressed with his hair braided much looser than usual. “Oh, hey,” Jaeris mumbled. “What’s goin’ on?”

 

“Jaeris,” Linkara said evenly. “I need to talk to you.”

 

“Bout what?” Jaeris asked.

 

Linkara hesitated. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

 

“Nah,” Jaeris said. “I’m awake…just wasn’ doin’ anythin’ today. What d’you need?”

 

“I…I need to talk about…us.”

 

Jaeris stared at him for a moment. “You’d better come in,” he finally muttered, stepping aside to let Linkara enter the house.

 

They headed into the living room and sat down on the couch. Now that he was here, now that the moment had come, though, Linkara had forgotten what to say.

 

Jaeris looked at him for several minutes. “You said you wanted to talk. About us…”

 

“Yeah,” Linkara said, shaking himself. “I…Jaeris, I’m sorry. For what happened…before. I know you said it wasn’t my fault, but…I did want it. I wanted it badly. And when I was given the chance…I wasn’t thinking about how it would affect you because I wanted it so much…I still want it…I’m so, so sorry and I know you have a wife and that it’s my fault we’re in this mess…”

 

Jaeris leaned over and put one finger on Linkara’s lips. “Linkara,” he said quietly. “Stop apologizing. You won’ let me apologize for it, so you don’ get to, either.” He moved closer. “An’…I won’ lie…it was…pretty amazin’…an’…I know you regret everythin’ that brought us to this point, and so do I, but…I…I think I’m ready to move on...” He carefully put one hand on Linkara’s knee. “An’…if this is what you want…I’m willin’ to give it a try.”

 

“But…your wife…”

 

Jaeris looked away. “You know how long I’ve been gone now?”

 

“No.”

 

“Neither do I. For all I know, she’s long since moved on. I could be long dead in her mind…I know she’s alive, but I can’ be sure of how long. She could be a grandma by now. An’ there’s no point sittin’ around feelin’ sorry for myself over her when…when I want to move on.”

 

Linkara nodded. “All right,” he said. “So…what now?”

Jaeris leaned over and kissed him and it was nothing like the forceful kisses they had exchanged weeks before during the coi sa pai. This was gentle, soft, sweet. Linkara moaned slightly and kissed back, one hand moving to Jaeris’s hip, the other tangling in his loosely-braided hair. Jaeris’s arms wound around Linkara’s waist, pulling him close, and Linkara could feel the heat between their bodies. It was right, it was perfect…

 

After a moment, Jaeris pulled away. “Bedroom,” he ordered in a breathy voice. Linkara nodded and they got up, walking quickly to the room, though half-way down the hall, Jaeris pushed Linkara against the wall and kissed him again, taking to opportunity to push his coat off of him. Linkara reciprocated, shoving the black coat off, not caring when both coats were left in a heap on the floor. They would pick them up later.

 

They did eventually reach the bedroom. Jaeris closed and locked the door before calling out, “Sierra, sleep mode.” There was a beep and a bit of static and Jaeris turned back to Linkara. “Okay,” he said. “Now we’re alone.” He stepped forward. “An’ I promise to be gentle this time.”

 

Linkara nodded. “Gentle sounds good right now,” he said quietly. Jaeris kissed him once more before he pulled back and started unbuttoning Linkara’s vest. Linkara allowed him to do so, closing his eyes and reminding himself to keep breathing. Jaeris slid the vest off and reached up to undo the tie. It hit the floor a moment later.

 

Jaeris started unbuttoning Linkara’s shirt, slowly lowering himself down and placing kisses on each new patch of skin. When he was finished, he stood back up and pushed the shirt off Linkara’s shoulders before stepping back to look at him.

 

Linkara blushed and crossed his arms self-consciously across his chest. He knew Jaeris had seen this before, but last time, they hadn’t really stopped long enough to really take each other in. “I’m sorry,” Linkara mumbled. “I’ve been meaning to work out more, but…”

 

Jaeris wrapped one arm around Linkara’s waist and pulled him close, kissing him a little more forcefully than before. “You’re perfect,” Jaeris murmured against his lips. He started kissing Linkara’s neck, nibbling gently some places, sucking harder in others, leaving a line of marks. Linkara gasped and his hands moved to Jaeris’s shirt, unbuttoning it quickly and pushing it off. The gunslinger was beautiful, pale and thinly muscled. Linkara couldn’t imagine why someone this pretty would want to be with him, but he wasn’t going to question it. He reached back and untied the braid, carding his hands through Jaeris’s hair, letting it flow around his shoulders.

 

Jaeris stopped suckling on Linkara’s neck and pushed him back to the bed. Linkara fell onto it, his legs dangling over the side. Jaeris leaned over and kissed his lips again before moving down his body, kissing every inch of skin he could. Linkara’s head fell back, his eyes closed. One hand clutched the sheets, the other petted the back of Jaeris’s head, his fingers running through his soft, soft hair. Jaeris reached the waistband of Linkara’s pants. He unbuttoned them and pulled them and Linkara’s underwear off in one move, kneeling down in front of the bed. Linkara leaned up on one elbow to look at him as Jaeris kissed his way up Linkara’s legs, spreading them slowly, suckling at his inner thighs, gently biting on his hipbones. Linkara groaned, his hand gripping Jaeris’s hair tighter now. Jaeris looked up and smiled at him before placing a kiss on the tip of Linkara’s quickly hardening cock. Linkara’s breath became more labored as Jaeris took him in his mouth, sucking and swirling his tongue and doing other things that Linkara couldn’t concentrate on as he threw his head back, his eyes squeezed shut, his hand tightening in Jaeris’s hair, the other clenching and unclenching sporadically.

 

Jaeris, without slowing down his sucking, slid one finger inside Linkara, causing him to moan louder. Jaeris smirked around his cock and started thrusting his finger gently. Linkara whimpered with each thrust, bearing down on him. “More,” he whimpered. “Please, more…”

 

Jaeris pulled off of Linkara’s cock and removed his finger before leaning up to kiss him again. “Jus’ a minute,” he whispered, pulling his own pants off before reaching into the bedside table and finding a small bottle of lube. “Don’ wanna hurt you again.”

 

Linkara nodded jerkily. He wasn’t going to object to anything right now.

 

“You might wanna move up a little,” Jaeris said gently. Linkara immediately wriggled to the headboard, lying fully on the bed. He bent his legs, feet flat on the bed to be sure Jaeris had plenty of room to work. Jaeris smiled at him and knelt between his legs. He quickly applied the lube and slid two fingers inside of him. Linkara did his best to keep breathing as Jaeris spread him open. Jaeris kept an eye on Linkara’s face, searching for any sign of pain, but there was none present. Jaeris removed his fingers after a few minutes and slicked himself up.

 

“You ready?” he asked.

 

Linkara nodded. “Please…”

 

Jaeris grinned as Linkara lifted his legs. Jaeris moved forward and pushed in slowly. Linkara wrapped his legs around Jaeris’s waist and his arms around Jaeris’s shoulders. Jaeris wound his arms around Linkara’s waist, pulling him close as he thrusted slowly and gently, going a little deeper with each push. Linkara’s moans and gasps increased in both frequency and volume with each thrust, and Jaeris wasn’t quiet, either.

 

Jaeris took Linkara’s cock in one hand and started jerking him slowly, matching their rhythms perfectly. Linkara practically screamed. “Oh, yes, please, yes, more of that…” Jaeris’s thrusts sped up and his mouth moved back to Linkara’s neck, biting down harder than before, leaving what was sure to be one hell of a hickey in a few minutes, but Linkara couldn’t bring himself to care right then. Let them see. Let them all see. He leaned up and bit back, marking Jaeris in the same way.

 

A moment later, Jaeris twisted his hand in just the right way and Linkara came, screaming, his eyes wide, his nails digging into Jaeris’s shoulders. Jaeris thrusted once more and came inside of Linkara, gasping out something meaningless as he collapsed. They lay there for a few minutes before Linkara unwound his legs and Jaeris rolled off of him.

 

Linkara smiled tiredly. “That was…that was amazing…”

 

Jaeris leaned over and kissed him gently. “Good,” he murmured.


	6. Chapter 6

Jaeris dreamed.  
  


_It was the last night he spent on his home world. He hadn’t been able to go home in the weeks following his escape from prison, so he and Ayla had spent all that time running. Somehow, they had found time to create a magic gun, binding their souls together in one object. And now it was almost time to leave._   
  


_They were in a small wooded area, just him and Ayla. “I’ll come back,” he whispered._   
  


_“I know,” she answered with a smile. “And until then, I’ll keep fightin’.” She took his hand. “An’ if you find yourself in trouble…take whatever help you need.”_   
  


_He nodded. “You too,” he said. “Even if I’m gone for a thousand coi sa pais…take what you need. So long as it’s not with a gover’ment man, of course.”_   
  


_“Would I do somethin’ like that to you?” she asked. “I’d never take anyone less than a reviewer.”_   
  


_He laughed. “Well, then,” he said. “This reviewer needs a memory.”_   
  


_She leaned up and kissed him, pulling him down by the front of his shirt. He fell on top of her, their clothes being pulled off without conscious thought, and it was so delicious, doing it here in a place where they could be caught at any moment. Let the government men find them. Their guns were nearby and they could kick ass without clothes._   
  


_It was rough that night, needy, demanding. Ayla left a dozen hickeys on his neck and chest, and he reciprocated with a dozen to her, and even when they were done, they couldn’t stop, touching, kissing, biting…_

_“I love you,” Ayla whispered, and Jaeris bent to kiss her one last time…_   
  


_And when they broke apart, it was Linkara looking back._   
  


Jaeris woke with a [start](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/888858.html#). What had he done…oh, God, what had he…no. He couldn’t think like that. He had made his choice…and whatever this was, it wasn’t going to last. They both knew that. As soon as he found a way home, it would be over.  
  


He looked at Linkara, who was sleeping peacefully beside him. What had led to this? How had he fallen so quickly for this man…this beautiful, kind, funny, brave man…  
  


Well, that answered that question.

Jaeris sighed and looked at the clock. 8:30. Might as well get up and get on with his day. Of course, his days on this world pretty much consisted of alternately working on finding a way home and moping about the house, so there wasn’t much to [get started](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/888858.html#).  
  


He carefully climbed out of bed, doing his best not to disturb his sleeping partner and dressed quietly, rebraiding his hair quickly before padding softly into the kitchen to make some breakfast. But as he started cooking, Jaeris found himself smiling softly, humming [songs](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/888858.html#)from his home world. Somehow, in spite of his conscience telling him that he ought to feel guilty, he was happy. And that was enough.  
  


He had just put his banana bread in the oven when Linkara appeared, bleary-eyed and wearing his clothes from yesterday. “Morning,” Linkara said through a yawn.  
  


“Mornin’,” Jaeris said back. “There’s coffee if you want it and breakfast will be ready in half-an-hour.”  
  


Linkara smiled and shook his head. “You’re really a model boyfriend,” he muttered, grabbing a cup and pouring some coffee out.  
  


Jaeris smiled back. “I try,” he said, getting his own cup and giving Linkara a kiss. They sat down at the table, not talking much, drinking their coffee casually as though this was one of a thousand mornings that they would do this. And it could be.  
  


Linkara laughed suddenly. Jaeris looked up. “What is it?”  
  


“I was just thinking,” Linkara said. “That if we’re going to be doing this often, I’m going to have to get an overnight bag over here.”  
  


“Yeah,” Jaeris agreed. “Or I’ll have to take one to your place.”  
  


Linkara shook his head. “I don’t think my roommates would like that. They complained that we were way too loud last time.”  
  


Jaeris grinned wickedly. “You mean they complained that you were way too loud. And I’m sure I could come up with ways to keep you quiet.”  
  


“I bet you would,” Linkara snarked back. “Either way, we’re going to have to start packing overnight bags.”  
  


“Yeah,” Jaeris said. He hesitated. “You goin’ home after breakfast?”  
  


Linkara shrugged. “I don’t have anything to do today…but if you want me to go, I can.”  
  


“No!” Jaeris said quickly. “No, I…I want you to stay.”  
  


“Okay,” Linkara said. “I will.” He smiled softly. “Unless you want to go someplace.”  
  


“Like where?”  
  


“I don’t know. Anywhere. Minneapolis, maybe? See some more of this place.”  
  


Jaeris smiled back. “I’d like that,” he said.  
  


Linkara’s smile grew. “We need to stop back at mine so I can get some clean clothes on,” he said. “But after that…”  
  


“After that, we can go anywhere you think is nice,” Jaeris said.  
  


Linkara nodded. “I only hope you like it too,” he said quietly.


	7. Chapter 7

They walked back to Linkara’s hand in hand, talking about this and that, laughing occasionally. They passed a few people, but no one really seemed to notice them. They went upstairs and got inside.

Harvey and 90’s Kid were sitting in the kitchen. They both looked up as Linkara and Jaeris came in. 90’s Kid waved brightly and Harvey managed a tight smile. “Hey, Kid,” Harvey said. “What you up to?”

“I’m changing clothes real quick,” Linkara answered. “And then we’re going into the city for the day.”  
  


Harvey raised his eyebrows but didn’t comment. Linkara gave Jaeris a small smile. “Be right back,” he said, pecking Jaeris on the cheek before heading into the bedroom.  
  


Jaeris stood awkwardly in the kitchen, not really sure what to say. Harvey was looking at him in a peculiar way that Jaeris wasn’t sure he liked. Seeming to sense the tension, 90’s Kid mumbled some excuse and hurried off.  
  


“Let’s make something clear,” Harvey said as soon as 90’s Kid was out of the room. “I’ve given the Kid my full blessing to have this relationship with you. And I’m not going to interfere with any choices you two make.”  
  


“That’s decent of you,” Jaeris snarked. He’d had this talk before with Ayla’s father and he knew what was coming.

Harvey ignored him. “But if you hurt one hair on his head, I will personally ensure that they never find your body. Got it?”  
  


“Got it,” Jaeris answered calmly.  
  


“Good,” Harvey said as Linkara reappeared, dressed in clean clothes. “You two have fun.”

Linkara just grinned at him before grabbing Jaeris’s hand and pulling him down to the parking lot.  
  


A minute later, 90’s Kid wandered back into the kitchen. “So…are Linkara and Jaeris, like…a thing now?” he asked timidly.  
  


Harvey glared at the front door for a moment. “Yeah,” he said. “I guess they are now.”  
  


90’s Kid nodded. “So…is Jaeris gonna be, like, around a lot?”  
  


“Probably.”  
  


“But isn’t he, like, married?”  
  


“What’s that got to do with anything?”  
  


“I thought that—”

“Doesn’t work that way, Junior. Not all the time.”  
  


“Okay,” 90’s Kid said.   
  


Harvey studied him carefully. “Does it bother you?” he asked gently.  
  


90’s Kid shrugged. “It’s their business. I just wish they’d, like, not do…stuff…where I can hear it, you know?”  
  


Harvey nodded. “I know. I can talk to them about it when they get back if you want.”  
  


“Thanks, dude,” 90’s Kid said.  
  


*  
  


Even in his own world, Jaeris had never been to Minneapolis. In fact, he had never gone far beyond his own town until he had been arrested. He and Ayla had meant to go other places, see the world, but then SUCKA had happened and they ended up spending all their time fighting.  
  


Now, with Linkara, Jaeris was eager to see everything. They walked hand in hand, talking, laughing, looking in shop windows, ignoring everyone else around them. They sat on a bench somewhere downtown—they weren’t sure where they were, but they didn’t care—and watched the other people passing by, speculating on who they were, what their lives were like.  
  


“That one’s a spy.”  
  


“Superhero. Definitely.”  
  


“Government spook. Reckon I could take him?”  
  


“Not right now, you couldn’t. Too many witnesses.”  
  


“Think that one has a family?”  
  


“Doesn’t everyone?”  
  


“Somewhere, I guess…”  
  


Linkara put his arm around Jaeris’s shoulders. “Yes,” he said quietly. “Somewhere.”  
  


Jaeris smiled and leaned on Linkara’s shoulder. “Don’ worry,” he murmured. “Somewhere’s good enough.”  
  


They sat in silence for a long time, just watching the city go by. A few passersby glanced their way, but they were left in peace.  
  


After a while, Linkara broke the silence. “I’m still going to get you home,” he said.  
  


“I know.”  
  


“But…don’t forget me?”  
  


“I won’.”  
  


“Jaeris…”  
  


“Don’ talk about that now. It’s our first date…talk about happy things.”  
  


Linkara smiled. “Right. Sorry. Just…”  
  


“I know.” Jaeris sat up and looked at Linkara seriously. “You’re a good man an’ I trust you. An’ I wanna be with you right now. So be with me, here and now.”  
  


Linkara nodded and they kissed, ignoring all the people around them. Here and now, this was right.  
  


*  
  


The rest of the day passed in a dream, going around the city, simply seeing it. It was beautiful, it was exhilarating, it was right. Somehow, it was all right.  
  


They finally left the city as evening fell. There was a comfortable silence as they headed off, but Jaeris broke it after a few minutes.  
  


“So what’s the deal with Finevoice?” he asked casually.  
  


Linkara glanced at him. “What do you mean?” he asked.  
  


Jaeris shrugged. “He just…seems really over-protective of you. Like he’s your dad or somethin’.”  
  


“Oh.” Linkara wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. “I guess…it’s complicated. He…he does try to look after me. And I won’t lie, he’s not that big of a fan of you…”  
  


“Noticed,” Jaeris muttered. “But that’s not a deal-breaker for you.”  
  


Linkara shook his head. “Why would it be? It’s none of his business.” He grinned mischievously. “If anything, it only makes you more attractive.”  
  


Jaeris smiled back. “Good,” he said, and they said no more until they were back in Shoreview, when Linkara turned to him and asked, “Do you want to come back to mine tonight? No shenanigans, just…”  
  


Jaeris nodded. “I…I’m tired of sleeping alone.”  
  


Linkara nodded and they stopped by Jaeris’s house before they returned to his apartment, shouting a brief greeting to Harvey and 90’s Kid before retreating to the bedroom, tired out from the day’s activity. They changed into pajamas quietly and crawled into bed together, curling up around each other. Jaeris laid his head on Linkara’s shoulder and Linkara petted his hair gently. All in all, it had been a perfect day.


	8. Chapter 8

Several weeks passed, the best that Linkara had known in a very long time. He and Jaeris spent a lot of time together, both in and out of the bedroom, learning more about each other every day. In that time, Linkara discovered that he and Jaeris loved many of the same things and that Jaeris was a fantastic musician. Many an evening was spent in Jaeris’s living room listening to him play his guitar in a state of bliss that usually ended with Linkara tackling Jaeris to the floor in a fit of passion that prevented them from even getting to the bedroom.  
  


Jaeris was happy as well. His face grew more relaxed, his laughter more easy, his manners less formal. He gave into the relationship fairly easily, knowing that it was doing him more good than moping around the house all the time. And when he stopped to think about it, Linkara wasn’t that different from Ayla. Both were loud, commanding, strong, brave. Both of them loved comic books and science fiction and magic. And both of them loved him, and as time went on, Jaeris realized he loved both of them as well. But Linkara was here and now, while Ayla was light years away. So for now, Linkara was who he needed.  
  


And it didn’t hurt that Linkara was usually eager to fall into bed with him, or to be taken on the [couch](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/893791.html#) or the floor or bent over the kitchen table…  
  


Okay, that train of thought had gone on long enough. Sex wasn’t everything, after all. Jaeris would be lying if he said it wasn’t amazing, but there was more to their relationship. For the [first time](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/893791.html#) since leaving home, Jaeris had someone loving him, someone he wasn’t going to lose, someone who laughed with him, who talked about stupid things with him, who he could rant about things to. And that was enough.  
  


And as time went on, it became more and more natural. They developed a routine of sorts, a normal life, with their things migrating back and forth between their homes, getting mixed up together, Linkara’s comics shuffled with Jaeris’s [sheet music](http://tgwtg-fic.livejournal.com/893791.html#), CDs from each of their home worlds sitting side by side on the stereo, the other’s clothes finding a place in their dressers. They weren’t living together permanently yet, and they usually switched off houses every few days, but that was all right. Both became home to them.  
  


It was the best life they could hope for.

*  
  


The best life they could hope for came to an abrupt end one cold night as they lay curled together in Jaeris’s bed after a particularly strenuous and satisfying evening. They had just drifted off to sleep with there was a loud bang from the living room that startled them both awake.  
  


“What was that?” Linkara whispered, sitting straight up in bed.  
  


“Dunno,” Jaeris said. “Probably…”  
  


“Master!” came Sierra’s voice. “There is an intruder.”  
  


Jaeris swore and leaped out of bed, barely stopping to pull pants on and grab his gun before charging out of the room. Linkara followed, pulling on his pants and grabbing his own hat and gun. They reached the living room together, weapons drawn, staying behind a wall so as to get a look at the intruders.  
  


They were humanoid in shape, but their skin was a strange shade of purple, their eyes were huge and orange and didn’t appear to have pupils, and their hair appeared more like grass than actual hair. Linkara whispered, “What are they?”  
  


Jaeris swore softly. “A species known as the mistula. From a universe about six thousand light years away from here. I…may have pissed off their leader on my travels…surprised they managed to catch up with me this quickly.”  
  


“So what do we do?” Linkara asked. There were about a dozen mistula standing in the living room.  
  


Jaeris thought for a moment. “They know we’re in the house, they would have heard the intruder alert. They’re probably waitin’ for us to come out and start fightin’.”  
  


“So…”

“Shoot anythin’ you can and try not to get killed.”  
  


“Got it.”  
  


“Go!”  
  


They leaped out from behind the wall and started shooting. The mistula didn’t move and it seemed that the magical energy from their guns did nothing to them. After a few minutes of shooting, the tallest of the mistula held up its hand and Linkara and Jaeris both immediately fell to the floor. The mistula stepped forward and began to speak a harsh, guttural language that Linkara could make neither head nor tail of.

Jaeris apparently couldn’t, either. “Sierra, translate,” he said in an irritated voice before looking at Linkara. “You’d think aliens who randomly invade your house would have the decency to speak your language.”  
  


“The King of the mistula greets you and requests that you drop your weapons,” Sierra translated.  
  


Jaeris glared. “Not until we know what he wants,” he snapped.  
  


Sierra translated to the King of the mistula, who responded in kind. “He says that he is here to collect the dangerous criminal who caused the devastation of his capital.”  
  


Jaeris rolled his eyes. “That’s what happens when you send your entire army to deal with one guy!”  
  


“He says that stealing his gun was an offense punishable by…something unpleasant and far worse than death.”  
  


“What’s that got to do with his city gettin’ destroyed?”  
  


“It was a part of their pursuit to arrest you.”  
  


Linkara decided it was time to interrupt. “Regardless,” he said. “We’re out of their jurisdiction.” He stood up. “I am the Champion of this Earth and this man is under my protection.”  
  


Sierra translated and the mistula laughed and said something. “He says that you do not have inter-universal authority and your words mean nothing.”  
  


“Bullcrap!” Linkara said. “I’m the Champion who defeated Vyce and if they want to fight it out, I will gladly give them the chance!”  
  


The mistula did not seem impressed as he answered. “He offers you the choice of surrendering the criminal or your planets go to war.”  
  


Linkara glared. “Don’t test me,” he said, raising his gun again.  
  


The mistula studied him for a moment and then laughed again before speaking. “He asks if it happens to be your time of month,” Sierra translated.  
  


Linkara was confused. “What does he...?”  
  


Jaeris glared at the mistula. “No,” he said. “It isn’t, so get your nose out of it.”  
  


Linkara suddenly understood. “Oh,” he muttered. “I see.”  
  


The mistula turned back to Linkara and his voice was no longer amused. “He says that if you do not turn over the criminal in the next ten minutes, your planet will be destroyed. All of it.”  
  


Linkara glared and opened his mouth to tell the mistula to go to Hell, but Jaeris stopped him. “Don’ bother,” he muttered. “I’m not worth your people.”  
  


Linkara looked at Jaeris. “But…”  
  


Jaeris shook his head. “They aren’t gonna to kill me,” he said. “It’s not their way.”  
  


“They’ll hurt you.”  
  


“I’ve been hurt before.” He reached up and stroked Linkara’s cheek tenderly. “And if I know you’re here…that you’re safe, that you remember me…they can’ hurt me.” He leaned forward and kissed Linkara gently, passionately, sadly. Linkara kissed back, tears starting to fall.  
  


The mistula waited patiently until they pulled apart. Linkara looked deep into Jaeris’s eyes. “I will find you,” he whispered. “Six thousand light years or however far it takes, I will come for you.”  
  


Jaeris smiled weakly, tears pouring down his own face. “I love you, Linkara,” he whispered.  
  


“I love you, too,” Linkara said. Jaeris stepped back and turned toward the mistula. “I surrender,” he said. “On the condition that we leave this universe and don’ come back.”  
  


The mistula nodded and said something. “He accepts your surrender,” Sierra translated. “And agrees to this condition.”  
  


Jaeris dropped his gun and stepped forward. Two of the mistula stepped forward and took his arms, holding him. Linkara watched, his face soaked with tears, as there was a flash of light and they were all gone.


	9. Chapter 9

Another day, another universe. But that was all right. Another universe meant another adventure. Another chance to find him.

Ayla checked her view screen and adjusted her course slightly. The energy trace from his ship was stronger here. Maybe this was it. Maybe her journey was at an end.  
  


“Galia, set a course for these coordinates,” she called to her computer, tapping them in.  
  


“Yes, Madame!” Galia called back, adjusting their course. “Course adjusted!”  
  


Ayla frowned at the picture coming up on her view screen. “Any analysis on this universe?” she asked.  
  


“One moment, Madame!” Galia answered. There was a whirring noise and then Galia continued. “Earth of the eighteenth dimension. Incompatible with Earth of the fifth dimension. Toxic atmosphere caused by man. No equivalent of users on record. First-rate Champion. Anchor required if you do not wish to die or assimilate.”  
  


Ayla’s brow furrowed. “Then why is the signal so strong?” she muttered. “He couldn’ have stopped here too long unless he reinforced his anchor…” She shook her head. “Galia, adjust anchor for maximum security.”  
  


“Yes, Madame!” More whirring and then a small locket was deposited from a slot in the control panel. “Anything else, Madame?”  
  


“No, that should be all for now,” Ayla answered as she clasped the locket around her neck. “Jus’ get to where the trace is strongest.”  
  


“Yes, Madame!”  
  


*  
  


It looked just the same. The same white house they had bought together when they got married. The house they had converted into a ship capable of travelling dimensions when they could get back to it. The house she had told him to take because she could find accommodations elsewhere.  
  


It looked so normal, on the outskirts of what appeared to be a fairly small town, like it had been built there. But she knew better. She only hoped that Jaeris wouldn’t be too shocked at her sudden arrival.  
  


“Galia, activate cloakin’ device,” she called. She didn’t want to cause a panic below by landing an obvious spaceship on their planet.  
  


“Yes, Madame!” There was a beep and the ship shuddered slightly as the device activated. “Landing in five minutes, Madame!”  
  


“Thanks, Galia,” she said, getting up and looking in the mirror. She wanted to be as presentable as possible for her reunion with her Jaeris…  
  


Oh, who was she kidding? She had been running far too long. She wondered if he would even recognize her with her red hair cut in an obvious butcher job and her skin more freckled than ever from being under a lot of suns warmer than theirs and her clothes tattered and her boots gone…  
  


She sighed. Well, looks weren’t everything. She could imagine him looking his best, though. He had managed to leave without the government noticing. They hadn’t tailed him across a dozen universes before being shaken off. He would still have his coat and hat and beautiful golden hair…  
  


Ayla shook her head. “Focus,” she muttered. She pulled on her worn green coat and picked up her gun—an ordinary gun that shot bullets—as the ship came in to a landing just behind the house. She took a deep breath and then opened the door and stepped out.

Her immediate thought was that it was much colder here than on her own planet—or maybe she was further north. Either way, she immediately regretted losing her boots two universes ago—or was it three? It was hard to remember. There was a slight but chilly wind that whipped her skirt against her knees and blew through the holes in her coat. She shivered and hurried toward the house, eager to be inside and hug her husband…  
  


She stopped as she reached the back door. Should she just walk in or knock first? It was technically her house and it would feel odd knocking…but he wasn’t expecting her and she might scare him if she just walked in…  
  


Oh, this was silly. She needed to see him. She reached out and knocked loudly on the door.  
  


She counted to twenty before the door opened, revealing a young man who was not her husband.  
  


“Whatever you’re collecting for, I don’t want it!” he snapped. Ayla was confused for a moment. Was it not her house after all? No, it was—the paint was chipped in the way she knew so well, the doorknob was crooked exactly as she remember—and that was her curtain in the window on the door, the one she had sewn when they had moved in. So who was this man?  
  


“I’m sorry,” she said. “But who the hell are you and where is my husband?”

 

The young man stared at her in confusion. Ayla studied his face closely. He looked nice enough, she supposed, but his face was pale and drawn and there were heavy bags under his eyes as though he had not slept in weeks. After a moment, though, his face cleared slightly. “Oh my God,” he muttered. “You’re Ayla.”  
  


Ayla was more confused than ever. “Yes,” she said. “I’m Ayla.” She pulled out her gun and pointed it at the man’s chest. “Now who the hell are you?”  
  


The young man didn’t even flinch. He simply removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You’d better come inside,” he said, stepping back. Ayla looked at him suspiciously for a moment before going into the house. He shut the door behind her and headed into the living room as though he lived there. She followed, feeling ever more confused and angry as she looked around.  
  


Something had changed about the house. She could see all of Jaeris’s things and many of their shared possessions, but mixed in were several things she didn’t recognize. Some of them Jaeris may have picked up on his journey, but others…others definitely didn’t belong. The brown overcoat slung over a chair as though it always belonged there, obviously a size or two too big for her husband. The comic books on the table with the sheet music, comic books she hadn’t left there. A number of tools scattered about, some she recognized, some she didn’t. And most distressing of all, the young man who collapsed on her couch, the couch her parents had given them for a wedding present. Ayla didn’t sit down. She kept her gun aimed at the young man, wondering where Jaeris was.   
  


The young man took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Ayla…I’m so sorry.”  
  


She glared at him. “Don’ apologize until you’ve told me what the hell is goin’ on,” she snapped. “Now, first things first…where is my husband?”  
  


The young man pressed his lips together as though trying not to cry. “He…he’s gone…he was arrested two weeks ago by something called the mistula. Apparently, he pissed off their King by stealing his magic gun and then leading a chase that wound up destroying their capital.”  
  


Ayla closed her eyes. “Fuck,” she muttered. “He really needs to stop doin’ that.”  
  


The young man nodded. “Yeah…” he said. “I’ve been trying to find him and get him back, but…it’s been rather difficult. He told me the mistula come from a planet six thousand light years away, but he didn’t say what direction and it takes time to search through that much space.”  
  


“I know,” she sighed. “I’ve been searchin’ through more space than that to get here.” She frowned again. “But why is he still here? My computer told me this universe is pretty incompatible with ours.”  
  


The young man sighed heavily. “That’s my fault,” he admitted. “I…he…he pissed me off as well…stole my gun, not realizing that she’s alive.” He reached down and produced it. It was a pretty model, wood and steel. “I went and got her back and…we had a bit of a fight that ended with me…destroying his anchor. I didn’t know what it was or why it was important, just that I was angry with him. Afterwards, I found out and…I’ve spent the rest of the time trying to make it up to him…trying to find a way to get him back to you.” He looked at her, his eyes bright. “I’m so, so sorry for stranding him here.”  
  


She considered pulling the trigger. This man had separated them, stranded her husband here in this universe, sent her on a chase across the multiverse that ended with nothing but one tattered coat and dress and a stolen spaceship…and yet as she looked into his eyes and heard his apologies, she couldn’t do it. She could see that he was truly repentant about it. She lowered her gun slowly. “I see,” she said. She hesitated a moment. “What’s your name?”  
  


“Linkara,” he said.   
  


“Linkara,” she repeated. “And how d’you know so much about my husband’s most recent arrest?”  
  


He looked down at his shoes. “I…I was here when it happened.” He took another breath. “Okay, I’m here a lot…I…we…” His hands were twitching incessantly. “I’m sorry,” he finally mumbled.  
  


She understood. “Coi sa pai?” she asked.  
  


He nodded, his face turning red. “We don’t have it here,” he explained. “It hit him and I didn’t know what to do…so…I went along with it. And…I guess once we started, we couldn’t stop.” He managed to look up at her. “But…I still worked on getting him home. To you. He loves you…more than he’ll ever love me, as he should. And I promise that I’ll do whatever I can to get him back.”  
  


She stared at him for a moment before nodding. “All right,” she said. “Let’s find him.” She turned. “Sierra? You still there?”  
  


“Yes, Madame. It is good to see you, Madame.”  
  


“Cut the crap, Sierra. What’ve you done so far?”  
  


“We are currently scanning any and all mistula signals in hopes of finding transmission relating to the Master’s arrest. So far, we have not been successful.”  
  


“I also have my crew working from my ship,” Linkara added. “Searching the maps and notes for a path to their planet.”  
  


Ayla nodded. “I’ll get Galia workin’ on it as well,” she said. “If I remember anythin’ about the mistula, he’s not havin’ a pleasant time of it.”  
  


“We do have an advantage, Madame,” Sierra said. “The mistula time scale is much slower than ours. He has not suffered too long by their standards.”  
  


“Good,” Ayla said. “Keep scannin’ and let me know the moment you hear anythin’.” She turned back to Linkara. “That goes for you, too.”  
  


Linkara nodded. “I hope you aren’t too angry with me,” he said tentatively.  
  


Ayla shrugged. “No use gettin’ mad about the things I can’ change,” she said. She headed out the back door to get Galia working on the task. “Though if you moved my Star Trek DVDs, I might have to kill you,” she called back.  
  


Linkara almost smiled. “Don’t worry,” he called after her. “I have my own.”


	10. Chapter 10

Linkara wasn’t entirely certain what to do about Ayla. He hadn’t been expecting her at all—no one had. But of course she had shown up, it was unreasonable to expect her to just sit around waiting until Jaeris found a way home. So here she was, a bare-foot woman with a hacked-up haircut and a dress that had seen better days. She didn’t even seem concerned about any of this as she returned to the house from what seemed to be a cloaked ship.

“Galia’s scannin’,” she reported as she went into the kitchen. “And that’s all I can do to help right now.”  
  


Linkara nodded. “That’s fine,” he said. “I’m just staying here so we have all bases covered when we find something…if we do…” He stared moodily at the ground. “This is all my fault.”

“Don’ start goin’ on a guilt trip,” Ayla snapped. “It’s not gonna help and I can’ stand people who wallow in their own inadequacies.”  
  


Linkara smiled slightly at that. “Then you’re going to hate me,” he said. “I never seem to stop worrying.”  
  


“You’ll learn pretty darn quick,” she said. “Jaeris did once I made it clear that I wasn’ gonna put up with that shit.”  
  


“I bet he did,” Linkara answered. “I mean…you don’t look like the type who would put up with it…”  
  


“What makes you say that?” she asked, pulling various things out of the cupboards and starting to cook something. Linkara was slightly disturbed by this, but he could hardly object. It was her house, after all.  
  


He shrugged. “I mean, you showed up out of the blue without shoes looking like you’ve gone through hell to get here and don’t instantly kill the man who admits to having an affair with your husband,” he pointed out.  
  


“Oh,” she said. “S’pose you’re right.” She didn’t seem too concerned as she turned on the stove and started boiling whatever she had just thrown together.  
  


Linkara hesitated. “How did you end up like that?” he finally asked. “I mean…without shoes or another dress.”  
  


Ayla gave him a flat look. “Tends to happen when you’re the most wanted criminal on your home world,” she said.   
  


“Really?” Linkara asked in surprise. She didn’t look like a criminal. A bit dirty, sure, but not dangerous. “What did you do?”  
  


A small smile crossed her face. “Well, first I assaulted the government agent who came lookin’ for my husband when he skipped the universe,” she said, setting a timer and then hitching herself up on the counter to face him. “I think he was still in intensive when I left. Then I resisted arrest, incited a riot, left the state when court ordered not to, broke into a top-secret government facility, stole a spaceship, led a multiversal chase that ended up gettin’ about a dozen federal agents killed...that enough for you?”  
  


Linkara stared at her for several minutes before he finally spoke. “So you’re saying I really, really shouldn’t screw with you?” he choked out.  
  


“That’s right,” she said. “Though I should probably clarify that the federal agents that died…I didn’ kill ‘em. I just used evasive measures and they crashed into each other.”  
  


“Still…”  
  


“Don’ feel sorry for ‘em,” she snapped. “I’ve seen innocent people tortured to death for the simplest offenses. I’m not gonna feel bad for ‘em dyin’ a quick and painless death.”  
  


Linkara decided not to argue with that. “So now what?” he asked. “I mean, once we find Jaeris…what do you plan to do?”  
  


Ayla shrugged. “Don’ know yet,” she said. “I thought we’d jus’ go home and finish what we started, but…if he’s stuck here and I’m gonna be arrested and probably executed the moment we touch ground…I guess I’ll jus’ have to talk to him…see what we can do.”  
  


Linkara nodded. “Makes sense,” he said. “But…if you two do decide to go back…I’ll help in any way I can. I have a ship that can destroy planets, so I might be of some use to you.”  
  


She smiled a bit more. “Thanks,” she said. “And what about you? What exactly is your plan for rescuin’ him once we do find him?”  
  


“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Linkara admitted. “I’ll have to see what their planet’s like…what their defenses are…I mean, I could decimate their entire planet, but I don’t want innocents to die over this…and neither does he, that’s why he allowed himself to be arrested.”  
  


“What, they threatened war on any planet that gave him asylum?” Ayla said.   
  


“Pretty much,” Linkara sighed. “I was willing to defend him…to fight it out with them. But he wouldn’t let me. He just surrendered.”  
  


Ayla rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that sounds like my husband,” she sighed. “He’ll always take the route that’s most likely to get him killed if it means other people will live.”  
  


Linkara nodded. “It’s a miracle he’s still alive, really,” he muttered.  
  


She smiled wryly. “Well, I made sure he survived when he pissed people off back home,” she said. “And I imagine he learned pretty damn quick how to run out here. Until he encountered you, anyway.”  
  


Linkara shrugged. “I guess he never pissed off anyone else with a dimension-hopping spaceship.”  
  


“Maybe,” Ayla agreed. They sat in silence for a moment before the timer went off and she jumped off the counter to retrieve whatever she had been cooking. “Hope you like this,” she said. “I’m not much of a cook…that was always his job…but I can put somethin’ together if I have to.”  
  


Linkara shook his head. “It’s all right,” he said. “I’m not really hungry.”

She gave him a look that reminded Linkara of his mother when he said something stupid. “I don’ know much about you,” she said. “But I feel almost certain that you haven’ been eatin’ much lately.”  
  


“You’d be right…I’ve just been so worried about finding him…”  
  


“And you’re not helpin’,” she snapped. “Sierra and Galia and whatever program you’ve got…”  
  


“Nimue,” Linkara interrupted.  
  


“Nimue, then,” she continued. “They’ll work on findin’ him. And when they do, you’re gonna need your strength.” She scooped whatever it was into two bowls and grabbed two spoons from the door, bringing it all over to the table. “Now eat.”  
  


Linkara picked up the spoon and ate. He wasn’t entirely sure what it was and it wasn’t particularly good, but it was warm at least and it filled him up quickly. “What exactly is this?” he asked tentatively. Over the last few months, he had determined that the food from Jaeris’s world wouldn’t kill him and could be mixed with the food from this one, but he was still slightly wary of it.  
  


“Don’ ask me,” Ayla said, eating much faster than Linkara as though she hadn’t had a good meal in months—she probably hadn’t, Linkara realized. “Jus’ whatever I found that looked like it could be boiled together. I don’ know the food from this universe.”  
  


That explained it. Linkara tried not to be mean about it. “Okay,” he said. “It’s just…some of these things aren’t really meant to be boiled.”  
  


Ayla shrugged. “Figured that out,” she said. “But it’s about the only thing I know how to do and you didn’ seem up to cookin’. And it’s not the worst thing I’ve eaten since leavin’ home.”  
  


“I guess,” Linkara said. “Though if you’re going to be here a while, I’ll either have to show you how to do other things or we’ll be eating a lot of take-out.”  
  


“If it means you eat, I’ll take it,” she said. She hesitated. “I…I s’pose you’ve been sleepin’ here…”  
  


Linkara looked down. “Yeah,” he said. “I…I wanted to be on hand in case Sierra found him and I needed to go…I figured out how to fly this house pretty quick and I don’t want to leave him there any longer than necessary…but now that you’re here, I can go…if you…if you want to be alone.”  
  


“I’m not gonna kick you out,” she said gently. “’Specially since I got a ship of my own that could need to go at any moment.”  
  


“But…”  
  


“It’s all right, really. I’ve also lived with worse people since leavin’…hell, I lived with worse people back home.”  
  


Linkara nodded. “I’m sorry…I just…”  
  


“I get it, all right? He needed someone and I wasn’ here. Can’ blame him for takin’ up with the nicest person he could find.”  
  


“That doesn’t make it right.”  
  


“You think right and wrong matter to me now? And you think I didn’ have a few encounters of my own while he was gone? It happens…’specially when you’ve got coi sa pai to deal with.”  
  


Linkara was still troubled, but he let it go. They finished eating in silence, or rather, Ayla finished eating and Linkara choked down as much as he could of whatever she had thrown together. Once he got used to it, it wasn’t that bad. It was edible, at least. Once finished, Linkara picked up the dishes and went to wash them out of habit.  
  


Ayla watched him, her face a bit sad. “You do this a lot,” she said, noting the way Linkara scrubbed the dishes and put them away in the correct cupboard.  
  


Linkara nodded. “Least I could do,” he said. “Since he always cooks.”  
  


“I know,” she sighed. “I’ve stood at that sink thousands of times…thankin’ him for bein’ the perfect husband…” She stood up abruptly. “S’pose you’ve cleared my clothes out of the dresser.”  
  


Linkara shook his head. “Not quite,” he said. “They did all get put in the bottom drawer, though…there weren’t that many, actually.”  
  


“I kept most of my own clothes,” she said with a laugh. “Jus’ left a few here to remind him I was waitin’. And I’m glad I did…” She fingered her tattered skirt absently. “Don’ think I’ll be able to fix this.”  
  


Linkara nodded. “I’ll just…” He waved limply at the couch. “Won’t bother you.”  
  


She studied him for a moment before nodding back and heading toward the bedroom. Linkara heard her open the drawer and a few minutes later close the bathroom door and turn on the bath. He wondered for a moment how long she had gone without washing. Not too long, he supposed, but long enough that he could tell it had been a while.  
  


He slipped into the bedroom and grabbed a blanket before going back to the living room and pulling off his vest, tie, hat and glasses before curling up on the couch. Now that he had eaten a decent meal, he was suddenly aware of how exhausted he was, having sacrificed sleep in favor of pacing the living room, waiting for news. He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately, hoping that with Ayla’s help, the search would go faster.


	11. Chapter 11

Jaeris quickly learned that trying to argue about basic human rights with a species that didn’t speak any of the fifteen languages he knew was fairly useless. He supposed that he would either have to learn the mistula language or they were going to have to find another universal translator, but the mistula didn’t seem too eager to listen to him anyway. He did run through all the languages he knew and even a few he only vaguely understood, but they didn’t respond to any of them, only glaring at him in silence as they headed back toward the mistula’s home world.  
  


That didn’t take as long as Jaeris expected. He was a bit surprised—he hadn’t realized that the mistula had achieved double the standard warp speed. That explained how they found him six thousand light years away in under a century. During the journey, Jaeris was kept in a small cell with only a mistula guard for company. After the first day or so of travelling, Jaeris gave up trying to talk to the guard and simply lay on the stone pallet that served as a bed and thought.  
  


He knew that Linkara would keep his promise to find him, though he wasn’t sure what Linkara could do against the entire mistula army. Sure, he had Vyce’s ship, but he wasn’t sure what the mistula’s forces were like, and since Linkara didn’t speak mistula or have much luck trying to negotiate before, Jaeris doubted he could be talked out of this mess. 

There was no point trying to escape since Jaeris had nowhere to go except back to Linkara and trying to take control of a ship on his own was more laughable than trying to negotiate. At least the mistula home world was similar to Linkara’s world. Jaeris remembered the two planets being very similar in terms of acclimation, so at least he wasn’t going to die the moment they got there. Of course, if he remembered anything about the mistula, a quick death may have been preferable.  
  


He wondered if he would even get a trial, then decided that it didn’t matter if no one spoke any of his languages. Though he supposed he would pick up a lot more of their language if he was forced to sit through a full trial. Or maybe they would find a translator for that.

Hope for the best, as Ayla had always said.  
  


Jaeris sighed and closed his eyes. His mind was racing, trying not to panic about his situation. He forced himself to think of Ayla, of Linkara, of how different they were and yet how alike. How Ayla would come home from work every day and have him on his back within seconds. How Linkara kissed him so gently and yet conveyed so much emotion. How much they both loved him and he loved them…  
  


Unbidden, an image came to his mind, of all three of them sitting and talking and laughing together, not caring about their entangled relationships. Hell, Ayla didn’t even know about that, and she probably never would. She would never meet Linkara, would never know just how close Jaeris had grown to him, would never have to deal with that sort of competition…  
  


Goddess, he was an asshole. Maybe he did deserve this.   
  


Jaeris drifted off to sleep, hoping that his guilt would wash away soon.  
  


*  
  


He wasn’t sure how long they traveled. All he knew was that they eventually reached the mistula planet and he was led off the ship and through the streets from the Space Center to the imperial palace.  
  


That was promising. If their only intention was to torture him, they wouldn’t take him to the palace. That probably meant that they were intending to hold a trial for all the good it would do him. Of course, if they planned to hold a trial, they probably had a translator who spoke at least one of the languages Jaeris knew. He thought frantically, trying to figure out what he could possibly say in his own defense if given a chance.  
  


Who was he kidding? He was guilty and they all knew it. Even if he explained why he had stolen the King’s gun, they weren’t likely to let him go, especially since they hadn’t managed to recover it. He supposed that he could have offered that trade, but it probably wouldn’t have helped his situation since there had been so much devastation caused. The best he could do was to plead guilty and hope that they lessened the punishment.  
  


Still, no reason he shouldn’t do his best. Jaeris took a breath and held his head high, acutely aware of the fact that he had no shirt and his hair was still unbraided. Not that the mistula cared about such trifles, but he felt very exposed as he was marched through the streets, an alien to the people milling around, stopping their activities to stare at him, children scampering after the soldiers, trying to get a better look at the strange pale-skinned creature in their midst. Jaeris forced himself to smile slightly, not showing any sign of fear. He would not give the soldiers the satisfaction.

They finally reached the palace and Jaeris was led through a number of winding hallways that he couldn’t hope to follow to a large room with benches all around, all filled with mistula.  
  


Definitely a trial. Jaeris took a breath and squared his shoulders as he was led to the dock, and his hands were chained to the sides of it. He always hated the chains.  
  


“Couldn’ you get a decent chair?” he asked snarkily, but the guards ignored him as usual. He sighed and looked around. The mistula all glared down at him with their huge orange eyes. He gave them a look of smug contempt, which was all the defiance he could muster at the moment, before slumping down, staring at the ground as they waited.

After several minutes, a door at the front of the room opened and the King of the mistula appeared, followed by another figure who was clearly not mistula, but didn’t seem to be quite human either. Jaeris wasn’t sure where she was from, having not encountered the planet that featured hair that particular shade of blue or white rims around the eyes, but he assumed that she was some sort of interplanetary translator. He hoped she spoke English—he didn’t want to be having to think about another language while trying to defend himself.  
  


Sure enough, the blue haired woman walked to the dock and looked at Jaeris, her expression blank. After a moment, she said something in mistula that Jaeris could make neither heads nor tails of.  
  


“S’pose you don’t speak English, either?” he asked.  
  


She blinked. “Oh,” she said in a low, rough voice. “I see.” She turned back to the mistula King and said something to him in an irritated voice. He answered her dismissively and she turned back to Jaeris. “All right, boy. I’m here to translate for you, but remember that I translate exactly what you say, so don’t say anything to piss them off.”  
  


“Why bother tryin’?” Jaeris asked. “They’re already pissed at me and nothin’ I say is gonna change that.”  
  


“They’re pissed, yeah,” she said. “But right now, they only plan to torture you until you’re half-dead and then send you to the mines. Piss them off more and they will torture you to death.”  
  


Jaeris shrugged. “I almost prefer that,” he said. “And either way, I’m gonna be here a while. Might as well have some fun while I still can.”  
  


She rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said. “You do that…what’s your name?”  
  


“Jaeris.”  
  


“Jaeris, then. And your home world?”  
  


“Earth, Fifth Dimension…well, that’s how I reference it. I don’ use multiversal standard.”  
  


“I see.” She studied him a moment. “Tixla Gorstlee, Earth-84,” she said.  
  


“The hell are you doin’ here?”  
  


“I’m a mistula translator. Not a whole lot of jobs doing that in the rest of the multiverse.”  
  


“It’s not that common a language, is it?”  
  


“No. But they stubbornly refuse to learn anything else.”  
  


“Bit of a design flaw.”  
  


“They’re not concerned about logic.”  
  


Before they could continue their conversation, the mistula king stood up and started speaking. Jaeris tuned him out. There was no point in trying to decipher the language just yet.  
  


The speech ended and the King turned toward Jaeris and said something that Jaeris supposed was a question. “He asks your name,” Tixla said. “Do you wish me to tell him?”  
  


“Go ahead,” Jaeris said. “Tell him I’m Jaeris of Earth-4W since I don’t know my own coordinates.”  
  


Tixla raised her eyebrows but relayed the information. The King asked another question. “He wishes to know why you came to this planet and stole his gun.”  
  


Jaeris sighed. “It’s kinda a long story,” he said. “You sure you want to hear it?”  
  


Tixla relayed the question to the King, who rumbled an answer and then plopped down in a very soft chair. “He says to take all the time you need since it’s the only chance you have of not getting your arms ripped out of their sockets.”  
  


Jaeris rolled his eyes at that, but began his story.  
  


*  
  


Half-an-hour later, Tixla had finished translating the entire tale to the court, from the moment SUCKA had been passed on Jaeris’s home world to the moment he had been arrested on Earth-4W. There was a long moment of silence as the mistula considered him.  
  


Finally, the King stood up and began to speak. When he was finished, Tixla turned to Jaeris. “He says that your defense is weak and your actions unjustified, that to rebel against your leaders is an offense that the mistula cannot forgive…and since your leaders cannot have their justice, it will be provided here.”  
  


Jaeris tried not to panic. “That’s…not good, is it?”  
  


“I’m sorry,” Tixla said. “But no. It’s not good.”  
  


The King said something else and a roar went up from the crowd. Tixla had to lean right into Jaeris’s ear to tell him what had happened. “You have been found guilty of theft, destruction, rebellion, murder, and numerous lesser offenses, and for these crimes, you will spend the rest of your life in the dungeons, to be done with as the guards see fit.”  
  


Jaeris closed his eyes, breathing shallowly. He had expected it, but it was still a blow.  
  


As the guards led him out of the courtroom, he clung to the only happy thought he had, that Linkara would come, that Linkara would save him.


	12. Chapter 12

Several days passed back on Earth-4W, days spent tensely waiting for the various AI units to find anything. Linkara was hardly eating or sleeping better than he had been before Ayla had arrived, though she made an effort to keep him functioning. After the first day or two, the awkwardness they had felt upon their unexpected meeting had faded into an arrangement which, while slightly uncomfortable, was at least tolerable to them both.  
  


And once they settled into that arrangement, they found that they actually had a lot to talk about besides Jaeris. They liked most of the same things and could have conversations about anything that were almost as easy as the conversations they had with Jaeris. Linkara had to admit that Jaeris had made the perfect choice in a wife. She was smart, she was funny, and she didn’t take anyone’s crap. And once she had bathed and put on clothes that hadn’t been ripped to shreds, she was actually very attractive.  
  


Ayla found that Linkara was just the sort of man that she would expect her husband to fall into bed with. He was clever and snarky and nice to her, and as the days passed, she found herself growing quite fond of him in spite of all the evidence that she should hate him. But there wasn’t really time to hate him, not when they were staying in the house together desperately waiting for news and trying to distract each other from their worry.  
  


It had been ten days since Ayla had arrived, making it almost a month since Jaeris had been arrested. Linkara and Ayla were sitting on the couch side by side, reading comic books and occasionally looking up to make snide remarks, both tense but a little more at ease than they had been before. Or at least, Ayla was. For some reason, after ten days with this man, she had come to feel that his presence here was right, that she and Jaeris had been missing something before but she hadn’t even realized it until Linkara had appeared in her life. It was a bit odd, but somehow, she felt better knowing that.  
  


Linkara, however, didn’t seem so comfortable. He still fidgeted nervously and while Ayla had initially put that down to concern for Jaeris, somehow that didn’t seem to be what was bothering him now.   
  


After two hours of this, she finally put down her comic book and looked at him. “What’s wrong?” she asked point blank. “I mean, besides the obvious.”  
  


Linkara looked over the top of his book at her. “What do you mean?” he asked.  
  


Her eyes narrowed. “You’ve been jumpier than usual today, like you got somethin’ to say but won’ say it.”  
  


He sighed. “I guess,” he mumbled. “It’s just…I keep thinking about…what’s going to happen after we save him…I mean…I can hardly ask him to keep up…whatever we had…when you’re here.”  
  


Ayla was a bit taken aback. “Oh,” she said. She hadn’t really thought about that. “So…you’re worried he’s jus’ gonna dump you the moment he sees me again?”  
  


Linkara shrugged. “I wouldn’t blame him,” he said. “I mean…I knew it was a temporary arrangement from the start and you’re his wife and I was wrong for ever getting in the way of that and if he’s got you, he won’t need me anymore and…”  
  


Ayla held up her hand to silence him. “I wouldn’ say that,” she said. “You’re part of his life…our life now…” She studied him a moment before allowing a small smile to cross her face. “And you’re kind of hot,” she added. “In fact, I’d be perfectly willin’ to share…if he agrees, and I don’ see why he wouldn’.”  
  


“Share?” Linkara repeated, as though the thought had never crossed his mind. “You mean…?”  
  


Ayla realized that he wasn’t going to get this without leading. She reached over and snatched the comic from his hand, tossing it onto the coffee table before grabbing his tie and yanking him into a hard, claiming kiss. Linkara flailed helplessly for a moment before his hands finally found purchase on her waist and he gave into the kiss.  
  


She pulled back after a moment and looked at him seriously. “I mean,” she said. “That I think you and I can come to an arrangement.”

Linkara nodded eagerly. “I think we can, too,” he said breathlessly.  
  


“Good,” she said. “Because if I’m gonna share my husband with you, I need to be sure you’re worth sharin’ with.”  
  


Linkara smirked slightly. “How do I prove it?” he asked.  
  


She leaned forward and kissed him again, softer this time, but in a way that still told him that she was in charge here. He gave into it, wrapping one arm around her waist, allowing the other to run up and down her side. She moaned softly. “You do know what you’re doin’,” she admitted when they pulled apart for air.   
  


Linkara’s smirk grew as he leaned forward and started nibbling on her neck. “I’ve gotten lots of practice recently,” he murmured, making her laugh. She ran her hands over his chest, finding the buttons on his vest and undoing them, shoving the garment off of him before grabbing his tie and pulling him into another kiss, lying down on her back, pulling him along with her. His hands moved over her, stroking her breasts through her dress, moving down until he found the hem of her skirt and pushed it up, bunching it around her waist. He ran his hands over her smooth, soft legs, his mouth not far behind. She leaned up on her elbows and smirked down at him as he pulled her underwear off, though her smile rapidly disappeared as he started working at her with his fingers, exploring her gently, finding the spots that made her whimper.  
  


He kissed up her inner thighs, gentler than she was accustomed to, but somehow, that was all right with him. He didn’t seem like the type who would be very rough with a girl. Her whimpers grew higher pitched when his mouth finally got to her pussy, laving her clit with his tongue, one of his fingers sliding into her gently, moving quickly to find the right spot inside of her. He licked and sucked on her, working her open with his hand and mouth and oh, Goddess, it was perfect. Her hands gripped his hair, pushing him down slightly. “Yes,” she gasped. “Yes…YES!” She screamed as his finger finally found its target. She could feel the warmth spreading from her stomach, creeping down her legs, turning into a strong burn as her back arched and her hands gripped harder, almost ripping Linkara’s hair out. She knew it had to be hurting him, but he didn’t seem to mind, keeping up his ministrations until she was still. She let go of his hair and he leaned back up, kissing her once again.  
  


She allowed him to kiss her gently for a few minutes while she got her breath back, but then she pushed him over, maneuvering until he was on his back. Her hands moved down quickly, undoing his belt and pushing his pants and underwear down until his cock sprang free. She smiled at him before positioning herself over him and slowly sliding down on his cock, taking him fully inside of her. He gasped and his hands found purchase on her hips, holding on for dear life as he thrusted up into her. She ground on his hips, her hands gripping his shoulders, and it felt so good, so right to do this.  
  


Linkara knew right then that this woman was going to be in charge, that everything he did, or that Jaeris did, would be subject to her will. And while Linkara was normally in command, in control of every situation, he knew that his control meant nothing, absolutely nothing compared to hers. It was exhilarating, knowing that someone else was in charge, that she would command him, that she would reward him for being good, that she would share with him…yes, this was right.  
  


They moved together for several minutes before Ayla felt herself reaching her peak once more. She ground against Linkara more intently, determined to get as much friction out of him as possible, and then she came, screaming and clenching all around him, her nails digging into his shoulders. He gasped and choked and finally broke, crying out as he came inside of her before slumping down, exhausted. She climbed off of him and laid down on top of him, curling into his chest.  
  


“So…” he finally gasped. “Am I worth sharing with, Madame?”  
  


She smiled. “I would say so,” she answered, glad that he had gotten the message, knowing that he was wrapped around her finger.  
  


They lay there for about half-an-hour, not speaking. Linkara’s fingers ran absently through Ayla’s butchered hair, his other arm wrapped around her back. She smiled and closed her eyes, allowing him to pet her. To love her like no one had in a long time…  
  


A loud beeping noise interrupted them and Sierra’s voice cut through. “Madame, if you are disposed for a journey, we have picked up a signal from the mistula regarding the master.”  
  


Ayla immediately leaped to her feet, finding her underwear and straightening her dress quickly. “Details!” she snapped, darting to the control panel.  
  


“Translating transmission,” Sierra said. “It seems that the master has been taken to the capital of the mistula planet and found guilty of several crimes, sentenced to be held in the dungeons for life. The transmission is a general challenge to the Champion of Earth-4W, saying that any attempts to interfere with this sentence will be met with a declaration of war on his planet.”  
  


“Trace it!” Linkara commanded, getting up and fixing his own clothes. “And then transmit back that if they don’t give him back, I will declare war on them.”  
  


There was a series of noises before Sierra spoke again. “Message transmitted,” he responded. “Coordinates to the source have been found and shared with Nimue and Galia.”  
  


“Good!” Ayla said. “Patch them through, I only want to say this once!”  
  


There was a long beep as Sierra patched them through to the others. “This unit is online,” Nimue’s voice came. “Awaiting instruction.”  
  


“Galia present!” came the overly-perky voice of Ayla’s computer.   
  


“Nimue, who do you have onboard?” Linkara called.  
  


“Information. At present, Pollo, Harvey Finevoice and Dr. Linksano are on board Comicron-One and awaiting further information.”  
  


“Patch them in!” Linkara ordered. There was a moment of silence before Harvey’s voice came through. “What’s going on, Kid?”  
  


“We got a transmission!” Ayla interrupted. “Coordinates have been sent to all computers. All units are to set a course for them immediately!”  
  


“And who the hell are you?” Harvey asked in confusion.  
  


“My name’s Ayla,” she answered. “I’m Jaeris’s wife.”  
  


“Oh…” Harvey sounded uncertain.  
  


“And, yes, I know about that,” she interrupted. “And we’ve worked it out. Now set a course!”  
  


“Okay…” Linkara could hear the disapproval in Harvey’s voice, but he didn’t have time to think about that as he was busy studying the coordinates that had just popped up on the computer screen.  
  


Ayla didn’t notice as she dashed into the bedroom and returned a moment later wearing a pair of Jaeris’s boots and one of his spare coats. She stopped only to snap, “Don’ blow them up until I get there,” before dashing out the back door and leaping into her ship. Linkara barely noticed, being too busy getting Jaeris’s ship into orbit. “Sierra, maintain contact as long as you can!” he called.  
  


“Contact is maintained,” Sierra answered.   
  


“Weapons?”  
  


“Operational.”  
  


“Warp speed, then!” There was a lot of noise as they took off, but Linkara hardly noticed. “Once we reach that planet, we don’t pull any punches! Either they give him back or we take him and go to war! Understood?”  
  


“Confirmed,” Nimue said.

“Got it!” Galia answered.  
  


“Kid, I don’t know…”  
  


“That’s my husband in there!”  
  


“We’re three ships against whatever these mooks have!”  
  


“Comicron-One has the power to blow up an entire planet. I think we’ll be fine.”  
  


“You’re not going to blow up a planet for one guy!”  
  


Linkara was silent for a moment. “I’ll do what I have to,” he finally said. “Maximum warp.”  
  


There was nothing more to say as the three ships flew through the stars. Linkara slumped back in Jaeris’s desk chair and closed his eyes, hoping they wouldn’t be too late.


	13. Chapter 13

It had been five days. Five days of waiting. Five days of being beaten and burned and shocked and…oh, Goddess…  
  


Jaeris curled up on the floor of his cell, his hair covering his face and shoulders. He had lost his pants the first day of imprisonment—the mistula did not believe that prisoners deserved any shred of dignity and had stripped him bare immediately before…  
  


He whimpered slightly, still feeling all the pain he had been forced to endure in the past five days and knowing that it wasn’t going to end, not until he died or Linkara came…  
  


But that possibility seemed so far off now. Jaeris knew, rationally, that it would take time for Linkara to find him and get here, but spending five days in almost constant pain was enough to weaken his hope in the Champion. How long would it take for it to fade entirely, for him to forget about Linkara and just give in to the pain? How long could he be used and broken before it ended, before the darkness overtook him and allowed him to sleep?  
  


He shivered, the cold stone pressing against the side he was curled up on, the frigid dungeon air freezing him everywhere else. He had not been given any blankets…actually, he hadn’t been given much of anything, just enough food and water to keep him alive. He was dirty, his hair a tangled mess, matted with blood and dirt and Goddess only knew what else, his skin in no better shape, numerous cuts and burns and bruises marking his body.   
  


Maybe he would be lucky and die of some sort of infection before it got worse.  
  


The door to his cell opened and he heard the harsh tones of a mistula guard. He had started to pick up a few basic phrases over the last five days in spite of the pain and he knew that this one meant something along the lines of “Get up, you worthless piece of shit” and was usually followed by a kick to the ribs. Sure enough, he felt the blow as soon as the guard stopped speaking. Jaeris whimpered as he pushed himself to his knees. But before he could muster the energy to get to his feet, the guard grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked him up, pulling a hoarse cry from his throat.  
  


The guard spoke a bit more, but Jaeris only caught a few familiar words. “King” was one of them and “worthless piece of shit” came up again, but the rest of it was lost on him. Not that it mattered as he was dragged by the hair out of his cell and propelled up the stairs into a small courtyard. Jaeris barely registered that the King and most of his court were standing around the edges, but he did notice the post in the center.  
  


He knew what that meant. He had been tied to a whipping post before, back on his home world, but that was the only thing that had happened to him there. Now, his body already breaking, he wasn’t sure he could take it.  
  


The guard dragged him to the post and threw him into it, attracting the attention of the court, who all laughed. Before Jaeris could fall, though, the guard pushed him forward and bound his hands to the post, ensuring he wouldn’t move. Jaeris didn’t try to resist, just hung there limply. So he was the entertainment for the evening. Fine. He wouldn’t give them what they wanted. Maybe if he gave the impression that he was already broken, they would give up and kill him.  
  


The first stroke fell, striking him across the shoulders. He barely even flinched, the whip barely registering after everything else. The second was the same. In spite of himself, Jaeris managed a small smile. Let them watch him be beaten. He wouldn’t give them any satisfaction.  
  


He took twenty lashes like that, focusing more on the mutters around the court. He couldn’t understand them, but he could tell they were displeased. Finally, the King called something in an angry tone and the whipping stopped. Jaeris had just heaved a sigh of relief when the guard struck his elbow with something hard, making Jaeris scream in spite of himself as he felt the bone break. There was a roar of approval from the watching crowd. Jaeris whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut. An equal strike to the other side and he screamed again, his legs giving out from underneath him.  
  


The King called something in an approving voice and Jaeris braced himself, wondering where the next blow would be. He had learned in the last five days that injuries were never treated, not for prisoners. He briefly wondered if he would ever regain full use of his arms…  
  


And then all rational thought stopped as the guard stepped behind him and forced himself on him. Jaeris screamed louder than ever, but he couldn’t struggle, not with both arms broken, not with his entire body already aching from the past five days...

The people in the courtyard were laughing, jeering, clearly enjoying the show. Jaeris didn’t care. He could only focus on the pain, wondering how long this would go on, if he would pass out or lose his voice before it was over…  
  


Just as he felt that it would never end, there was a flash of light, several screams, and the guard was suddenly gone. He didn’t bother to open his eyes, simply fainted right there, hanging limp from the pole as the world around him exploded into noise.


	14. Chapter 14

Maximum warp, it turned out, was fast enough to get them to the correct planet in only one day.  
  


This was a good thing, too, because Linkara wasn’t sure how long he could just sit in a ship without snapping. He didn’t know exactly how violent the mistula were, but he didn’t want Jaeris to go through any more pain than he already had. So it was a relief when Sierra announced, “Coordinates reached.”  
  


“Kill the warp and activate cloaking device,” Linkara ordered. “Nimue? Galia? Positions!”  
  


“Information,” Nimue’s crisp, professional voice said. “Comicron-One has reached the provided coordinates and is in orbit around the planet, awaiting further instructions.”  
  


“Report!” Galia called. “We’ve reached the planet and Madame is ready to go down and…what was it, Madame? Oh, yes, eviscerate anyone who gets between her and the master.”  
  


“Excellent,” Linkara said. “Harvey? Linksano? Pollo? You ready to beam down?”  
  


“Ready when you are, Kid,” Harvey called. “If you’re sure you want to do this…”  
  


“I am,” Linkara said. “Linksano?”  
  


“Ready at any moment!” the scientist called.  
  


“I am prepared for action,” Pollo reported.  
  


“Ayla? Can you hear me?”  
  


“Loud and clear, cowboy.”  
  


“Good. Sierra, Nimue, Galia, scan the planet and figure out where Jaeris is. We don’t want to be wandering around lost. Also, Ayla, do you speak mistula?”  
  


“When would I have found time to learn mistula?”  
  


“Damn…Pollo, can you translate non-Earth languages?”  
  


“I would need to listen to at least five minutes of constant normal speech to process it, but I can pick up most languages.”  
  


“Sierra, how long was the transmission you intercepted?”  
  


“About ten minutes.”  
  


“Good. Send it over to Pollo so he can pick up the language. We’re going to need a translator and you aren’t portable.”  
  


“You don’ need anyone to translate a gun.”  
  


“We may be able to negotiate and avoid an interplanetary war.”  
  


“I ain’t negotiatin’ with anyone who hurt my husband!”  
  


“You negotiated with me…”  
  


“You made a mistake. These bastards took him and did Goddess only knows what to him!”  
  


“Point. But I do want to try and avoid a war if I can. But if they won’t negotiate, we will go to war.”  
  


“Information,” Nimue interrupted. “Jaeris has been located in the center of the planetary capital.”  
  


“Small planet,” Linkara commented.  
  


“Information. The planet appears to be roughly one tenth the size of Earth. It has only one nation…”  
  


“All right, thank you,” Linkara snapped. “I don’t care about the history, just beam us down to wherever the King is as soon as Pollo has a handle of the language.”  
  


“Confirmed.”  
  


They all lapsed into silence while waiting for Pollo to pick up the language. Linkara paced the living room, his coat back on, his gun in his holster for all the good it would do. He had seen that the mistula seemed to be immune to magic. Hopefully they weren’t immune to bullets.  
  


After about five minutes, Pollo’s voice came through the communication lines. “I have processed the language and am ready to translate.”  
  


“Good!” Linkara said. “Weapons at the ready. All ships, aim weapons at the capital and beam us in front of the main government building.”  
  


A moment later, Linkara, Ayla, Harvey, Linksano, and Pollo all appeared in front of what appeared to be a very ostentatious palace, all of them armed and ready. Linkara looked at Ayla, who nodded. “Let’s go,” she said, and led them to the doors.  
  


“So do we knock or just bust in and demand an audience?” Harvey asked.  
  


“We just bust in,” Linkara said. “And we don’t leave until we have him back.” He reached out and threw the door open. It was a little weird that there were no guards…then again, if the entire planet was one nation, there probably wasn’t very much war.  
  


They walked through the halls, weapons ready, trying to find the throne room. “Should we split up?” Ayla asked. “You go find the King and negotiate while I find Jaeris and book it?”  
  


Linkara looked at her. “And what are you going to do if you get caught?” he asked. “No, we stick together and negotiate…or fight…together. Come on, let’s go this way.”  
  


They moved through the strangely empty hallways quickly, but quietly, trying to figure out which way to go. The place was huge and sprawling, the type of building a person could easily get lost in. Fortunately, Pollo was keeping track of their route so that they could find their way out later.  
  


Harvey moved close to Linkara. “Kid, I don’t like this.”  
  


“What? Saving someone you don’t approve of?”  
  


“No!” Harvey hissed. “I’m all for saving your boyfriend, Kid, I really am. I meant…it’s too empty. This is supposed to be the big center of the world and…”  
  


“Shh!” Ayla held up her hand and Harvey and Linkara broke off their conversation immediately and listened.  
  


A distant but definite scream cut through the air. Ayla’s sapphire eyes widened and she started running toward it, her gun in hand, coat and skirt flying behind her. The others followed, not hesitating at any turn, just going toward the screaming. As they grew closer, more sounds could be heard, rough laughter and shouting in mistula that seemed to be coming from behind that door…  
  


Ayla burst through it and fired at the mistula immediately before her. He fell and then she saw her Jaeris, naked, dirty, injured, tied to a pole and completely unconscious.


	15. Chapter 15

The entire yard exploded into noise, shouting, screaming, footsteps, but Ayla wouldn’t be deterred. She fired another shot, downing a second guard who rushed toward her, and ran to her husband. Linkara uttered a curse and ran to join her, Harvey, Linksano, and Pollo close behind, their weapons trained on the surrounding mistula.   
  


Ayla didn’t notice. She reached into her pocket and produced a knife, which she used to cut Jaeris free. He fell limply, but she managed to catch him and lower him down gently. And even from her position kneeling beside her husband, everyone could tell she was the authority here. Her eyes scanned the mistula until she located the King and she aimed her gun at him. “Pollo,” she commanded. “Ask that son of a bitch why I shouldn’ kill him right now.”

Pollo translated the message, addressing the King more politely. The King stared at them for a moment before saying something that Ayla guessed was a question.  
  


“He does not have an answer,” Pollo said. “And he demands to know who you are and what you are doing here.”  
  
  


“He knows who I am,” Linkara snapped. “And we’re here to negotiate for Jaeris. And we’re not leaving without him.”  
  


Pollo relayed the information and listened to the response. “He asks by whose authority you are negotiating.”  
  


Ayla’s eyes flashed. “The authority of a wife who won’ see her husband hurt anymore,” she said. “A wife who’s run across twenty universes to get him back and who isn’ gonna lose him now!”  
  


The King laughed when he heard that message and asked another question. “He asks if you would lose him to the Champion.”  
  


“No,” she said. “I freely accept the arrangement. And that has nothin’ to do with this.” She glared at the King. “We’ve heard your ultimatum. And we’ve issued ours. So the question is…who’s gonna declare war on whom? Cause we are ready to fight right here and now.”  
  


The King considered her for a moment before speaking. “He wants to know what you can offer in return for the criminal.”  
  


Her gun was raised in a moment. “Is his life enough?” she asked.  
  


The King looked at the gun in her hand and snapped his fingers. Immediately, several dozen guards appeared, all with weapons aimed at the group. “I think his position is clear,” Pollo said.  
  


Linkara glared as well. “Inform him that we have our fleet in orbit around his planet, poised to blow it up at a word from me.”

“He asks if a Champion could really harm so many innocents to save one worthless criminal.”  
  


“Oh, I could,” Linkara said. “And they aren’t innocent. They allow this. They tolerate torture and rape and who knows what else. I will not hesitate to wipe out the planet.”  
  


The King studied Linkara for a moment before speaking. “He does not believe you have the fire power,” Pollo translated. “And he will not surrender his prisoner.”  
  


Linkara looked at Ayla, who met his eye steadily. “Fine,” Linkara said. “If that’s how it has to be…NOW!”  
  


The courtyard exploded as Linkara’s team all started shooting, downing every guard who tried to rush them. Linkara holstered his gun and bent to pick Jaeris up. Ayla leaped to her feet, taking careful aim and firing one shot.  
  


“Sierra, beam us out!” Linkara shouted into the small communicator pinned to his jacket. A few loud, confusing seconds later, they found themselves back in Jaeris’s house, orbiting above the planet.  
  


Everyone stopped shooting as Ayla ran to the control panel. “Set a course back for Earth-4W,” she commanded. “Nimue, Galia, follow.”  
  


“Yes, Madame.”  
  


“Confirmed.”  
  


“Okay!”  
  


Harvey looked at Linkara, who still held Jaeris in his arms. “Kid, are we going to have an interplanetary war going on?”  
  


“Maybe,” Linkara said. “But I think we can handle it. After all, we have a lot more of a planet to work with.” He turned to Linksano. “I’m going to trust you to take care of him.”  
  


Linksano nodded. “Beam him over to sick bay, I have better equipment there,” he said.   
  


“Nimue, three to beam to Comicron-One.”  
  


“Four,” Ayla corrected, standing up. “We’re on autopilot and I ain’t leavin’ him.”  
  


Linkara smiled. “Sorry. Four to beam over.”


	16. Chapter 16

aeris dreamed. He knew he had to be dreaming, because he couldn’t have escaped. He couldn’t be safe. He was going to wake up and be back in that cell, frozen and broken, ready to be beaten and used.  
  


But it was a nice dream. He felt like he was in a warm bed, his injuries treated, someone petting his forehead and brushing out his hair. He could hear Linkara’s voice, and Ayla’s, both murmuring soft words of comfort, indistinct, but he knew the tone. It was nice. It was right.  
  


He hoped he would never wake up.  
  


*  
  


“Will he never wake up?” Ayla asked fretfully. Jaeris had been lying in sick bay for three days, unmoving, burning with fever, with Dr. Linksano doing everything he could to help without much result.  
  


“He will,” Linksano assured her. “I’m sure he will. But you have to realize how much trauma’s been inflicted on the body. It’s going to take a lot of time to heal.”  
  


Ayla nodded, sitting down and stroking her husband’s hair. This was not how she had imagined their reunion after…how many years? Three? Four? She couldn’t be certain, not with all the different time scales they had both seen.   
  


Linkara came into the sick room. “Any change?” he asked hopelessly.  
  


Ayla shook her head. “Nothin’.” She sighed, slumping back in her chair, her eyes closed. “If only we could get the fever down…”  
  


“I’m afraid there’s nothing to do until it breaks,” Linksano said. “I’ve got him on every medication I feel safe giving him. It’s up to him now.”  
  


Linkara went over and put a hand on Ayla’s shoulder. “He’ll make it,” he said quietly. “I know he will.”  
  


She didn’t answer him. “Do you think…?” she began, then shook her head. “No. I couldn’…it obviously means somethin’…”  
  


“What?”  
  


She hesitated. “It might help…if I…if we cut his hair…might help cool down the fever…”  
  


Linkara bit his lip. Intellectually, he knew it was just hair, but somehow, he couldn’t picture it. “I…I don’t know…”  
  


Linksano looked up from the monitor. “Might help,” he said. “And if nothing else, it will make it easier to wash later.”  
  


Ayla nodded and produced her knife. “Got a hair band?” she asked. “It’ll make it easier.”  
  


Linkara reached into his coat. “You know, that’s normally not something I carry with me,” he commented. “But once I started going places with him, I got in the habit…here.” He knelt by the bed. “Turn him over.”  
  


Ayla and Linksano rolled Jaeris onto his side gently. Linkara quickly but tightly braided his hair, not caring if it looked neat, and tied it off. “Okay,” he said, stepping aside. Ayla took his place and in one stroke, cut the braid off, leaving his hair just as messily cut as hers.  
  


Linkara looked at her oddly. “Is that how you lost yours, too?” he asked quietly.  
  


She shook her head. “Not exactly. It just got in the way...too easy for people to grab hold of.”  
  


He nodded, looking down at Jaeris. His face looked so small now…  
  


“Come on,” Linkara said heavily. “You should sleep.”  
  


*  
  


He felt so light. Warm, but not too warm anymore.  
  


And their voices were clearer. They were still gentle, but a little more distinct. Definitely Linkara…maybe he had been rescued after all…and the other voice certainly sounded like Ayla, though he knew that was impossible. Maybe he was imagining things. But this dream had gone on so long…  
  


He tried to speak. Maybe if he could speak, he could figure out if this was real.  
  


“Link…” he murmured, barely above a whisper.  
  


Their voices broke off abruptly, and then there was someone by him, a hand on his forehead. “Jaeris?” Yes, it was Linkara. Definitely his voice…but the hand on his forehead was too small.  
  


“Link…ara…” he gasped out. He tried to raise his hand, but stopped when a shock of pain went through it. Right. Not a dream. If it was a dream, it wouldn’t hurt.  
  


“Yes…yes, I’m here.” There was his hand, on top of his. So who was petting him?  
  


“I think his fever’s broken,” came the second voice, the one that sounded like her…but it couldn’t be…it couldn’t…  
  


“Ayla?” Jaeris breathed. “Is it…”  
  


“Yes,” she said. “Yes, darlin’, it’s your Ayla.” Her hand was gone, to be replaced by her lips on his forehead. “I’m here…we’re here.”  
  


Slowly, he managed to open his eyes. And there she was, smiling through tears, her hair hacked off, her face freckled, but her…his…Linkara was beside her, holding Jaeris’s hand in one of his, his other arm around her shoulders.  
  


“How…what…?”  
  


She laid a finger on his lips. “Don’ talk,” she said. “It’s okay now…we’ll explain when you’re better.” She leaned over and kissed him again. “Jus’ rest, darlin’. You’re all right now.”  
  


He nodded weakly and closed his eyes again, falling into a more peaceful sleep, their hands still on his.  
  


*  
  


It took another day for Jaeris to be able to form a full sentence, another two before he could stay awake longer than a few minutes. But he got better every day, and within a few days, he was coherent enough to listen to Ayla’s story.  
  


Linkara left them alone for that. They deserved time together to grieve and rejoice without his input.  
  


Jaeris had managed to sit up, though he did lean heavily on the wall. Linksano had done something that had repaired his arms almost instantly, but they still hurt a lot, and it did take some effort to sit up, but it was worth it to talk to Ayla.  
  


And he cried with her, and laughed, and smiled and mourned as she told him everything that had befallen her.   
  


As she reached the end of her story, Jaeris managed to reach over and take her hand. “You’ve been so brave,” he said to her quietly. “And…I never shoulda left you.”  
  


She shook her head. “You did what you had to,” she said. “And so did I.”  
  


He didn’t meet her eye. “Ayla…” He took a breath. “I…I’m sure Linkara told you…”  
  


She nodded. “Course he did,” she said. “Kinda hard not to work with someone for several weeks without it comin’ up.”  
  


“I’m sorry…”  
  


She smiled. “It’s okay. We…he and I have come to an agreement…if…if it’s all right with you…”  
  


He looked at her. “What kinda agreement?”  
  


“We…we agreed to share…if you’d like.”  
  


He studied her for a moment before a smile crept across his face. “I…I think that’ll work,” he said. “Once I’m…once I’m up to more strenuous activity…”  
  


Her smile grew and she leaned in and kissed him. “He’s a good man,” she said as they broke apart. “You’re both good men.”


	17. Chapter 17

Back on the bridge, Linkara studied the space in front of him, a smile on his face. Jaeris was safe and well, and Ayla wasn’t going to throw Linkara out of their lives…yes, it was all perfect.  
  


He hoped. He wasn’t sure if the mistula would actually declare war on Earth, though the fact that they hadn’t shown up yet was promising…  
  


“Incoming transmission,” Nimue called.  
  


So much for that. Linkara sighed. “On screen,” he ordered, bracing himself for a long diplomatic talk.  
  


He was very surprised that the figure on screen wasn’t a mistula, but rather a dark skinned woman with light blue hair. His brow furrowed. “Who are you?” he asked.  
  


“Are you the Champion of Earth-4W?” she asked.  
  


“Yes.”

She nodded. “Tixla Gorstlee, Earth-84,” she said by way of introduction. “Ambassador to the mistula…and you, now, I guess.”  
  


He sighed. “Let me guess,” he said. “They’re preparing to attack and destroy anyone who tries to shield Jaeris.”  
  


“Actually, no,” Tixla said. “I am reporting to tell you that the girl…his wife…killed the King. And since there was no heir, the entire planet is embroiled in civil war at the moment and not in a position to attack anyone. And they’re very likely to be for several years, by which time Jaeris will be forgotten.”  
  


“Oh,” Linkara said. He did feel a bit guilty in spite of it all. “I’m sorry that the planet is in such turmoil…”  
  


Tixla shrugged. “It happens a lot around here, actually,” she said. “But that’s not the only reason I’m reporting. There are a few people like myself…ambassadors and translators and all…who are not mistula and don’t want to die in this war…I am to ask if we can seek asylum on your planet.”  
  


Linkara considered her for a moment. “How long have you lived there, Tixla?”  
  


“Several years, by their time scale,” she answered.  
  


“And you knew what they did to prisoners?”  
  


“It was not my place to interfere.”  
  


“They tortured him. They raped him. And you’re saying it wasn’t your place…”  
  


“What would you have had me do? Anyone who tried to help a prisoner shared the punishment.”  
  


Linkara sighed. “I suppose you’re right,” he admitted. “How many of you are there?”  
  


“No more than thirty from a number of planets and universes.”  
  


“Do they all speak at least one of Earth’s languages?”  
  


“Yes.”  
  


“I can’t stop you from coming here,” he said. “But there are several government bureaucracies that will want to know about you.” He started typing. “I’m sending you the people you’ll have to talk to before you can settle here. I’m not the person to make that call.”  
  


“But you are the Champion.”  
  


He smiled wryly. “Being the Champion doesn’t mean anything here,” he said. “I’m sorry, Tixla. But it’s not my place to say yes or no.”  
  


She nodded. “I understand. We will speak to your leaders. Thank you.” She ended the transmission.  
  


Linkara slumped back in his chair, his eyes closed. They had done it. They had saved Jaeris and managed to avoid an interplanetary war. He knew he should feel bad about the mistula, but somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to feel more than a twinge of guilt as he got up and headed back to sick bay.  
  


Jaeris was still awake, sitting and talking with Ayla, though they both looked up as he entered, both smiling at him. He smiled back as he crossed to the other side of the bed and sat down. “Just got a message,” he said. “The mistula are currently in the middle of starting a civil war, so they’re no longer worried about us.”  
  


“That’s…good?” Jaeris said.  
  


Linkara shrugged. “It’s not our problem, anyway,” he said. He took Jaeris’s free hand. “How you feeling?”  
  


Jaeris smiled at him and Ayla. “Better than ever,” he said.  
  


“Linksano says you can go home tomorrow,” Linkara said.   
  


“Good.” Jaeris hesitated. “You comin’ with us?”  
  


“If you want me to.”  
  


“Of course we do,” Ayla said.   
  


“Then of course I’m coming.”  
  


*  
  


They returned to the house the next day. Jaeris was still weak, though he tried not to show it, instead choosing to complain about how weird it felt not to have so much hair.  
  


“It’ll grow back!” Ayla protested.  
  


“Yeah, but that takes time!” Jaeris moaned. “And that doesn’ change the fact that I feel too light without it.”  
  


“You’re still pretty, though,” Linkara teased.  
  


Jaeris glowered at him, though without malice. “I’ll get you for that comment later,” he said.  
  


“Looking forward to it,” Linkara snarked back.  
  


“Not unless I get to watch,” Ayla teased.  
  


“Of course!” Jaeris said. “Hell, might even let you join in.”  
  


Ayla raised an eyebrow. “And why would you not let me?” she asked in a dangerously soft voice that sent a shiver down both men’s spines. “After all…” She leaned over and kissed Jaeris gently. “As I recall…” She turned and did the same to Linkara. “I’m in charge around here.”  
  


Both of them gaped at her. “Yes, Madame,” they finally murmured together.


	18. Chapter 18

A month passed and the three of them settled down. Linkara still moved between the house and his apartment, though most of his time was spent with Ayla and Jaeris. It was a very rewarding relationship for all of them in many ways, most of which had nothing to do with any physical activity since it was a few weeks before Jaeris felt up to anything strenuous.  
  


But he did recover and they all three spent a lot of time experimenting, touching, kissing, exploring, loving. Ayla usually called the shots and the boys did everything they could to please her, and she pleased them, and they were all three very happy with the arrangement.

“Was she always like this?” Linkara asked one afternoon as he and Jaeris stood in the kitchen, making dinner together.

Jaeris grinned. “Yeah. Only time I ever managed to get ahead of her was durin’ my first coi sa pai with her…before we got synced. And she still managed to put me in my place after the first round.”  
  


Linkara shook his head. “She’s quite the woman.”  
  


“I know,” Jaeris sighed. He smiled. “I’m glad she’s back.”  
  


“I am, too,” Linkara said honestly. “I mean…I love you, Jaeris, but…”  
  


“We need her,” Jaeris finished. “Always did.” He looked at Linkara, a smirk on his face. “Though if you’re not opposed…”  
  


Ayla found them ten minutes later, Linkara braced on the counter, Jaeris thrusting into him. She merely rolled her eyes before jumping up on the counter, her legs on either side of Linkara’s hips.  
  


Yes, it was a good deal for everyone.  
  


*  
  


Six weeks after they returned home, they were busy working on finding Jaeris and Ayla’s home world—a task that hadn’t stopped, just been pushed to the back burner. It was a fairly dull process, going through files and trying to match Jaeris’s notes to multiversal standard, but it wasn’t a terrible job. Linkara found himself going through the records with a smile on his face and much more enthusiasm than before. He knew that he wouldn’t lose them entirely, after all. They would always find a way back to each other, all three of them.  
  


They had been working steadily for the better part of a day when Ayla suddenly dropped the file she was looking over, her breath growing short. Linkara and Jaeris immediately stopped what they were doing and Jaeris rushed to her, catching her as her knees gave out. “Ayla? Darlin’, what’s wrong?”  
  


She grabbed the front of his jacket and yanked him into a harsh kiss. He moaned a bit before pulling back. “Crap,” he muttered. “Linkara, can you take her for a second?”  
  


Linkara was with them in a moment, taking Ayla around the waist. “It’s that time, isn’t it?” he asked, just before Ayla turned and pressed her lips to his, grabbing his tie—it needed to serve some purpose, after all.  
  


“Yeah,” Jaeris said. “Gimme a minute to prepare, cause…” He suddenly bent over, gasping for breath, and Linkara knew that it had just hit him as well. He barely had time to pull away from Ayla and catch his breath before Jaeris was there, moving behind him and gripping his waist hard, biting on his neck as Ayla pulled him into another kiss.

 

“Bedroom,” she breathed as they pulled apart again.

It took far longer to walk down the hall than it should have due to Ayla and Jaeris stopping every few minutes to kiss Linkara or each other, all three pulling each other’s clothes off, touching and kissing everywhere they could reach. They finally got into the bedroom, though, and quickly got rid of their remaining garments before collapsing onto the bed…  
  


A few minutes later, Linkara found himself caught between the two, Jaeris sitting against the headboard, pulling Linkara down onto him and thrusting up, Ayla straddling him and sliding down onto him. They found a rhythm quickly, moving together. Jaeris bit down on Linkara’s neck and Ayla scratched down his chest and Linkara could only grip Ayla around the waist and meet their thrusts as best as he could, hoping that since they could keep each other occupied he would at least get a break now and then…  
  


But damn if it didn’t feel good.  
  


It didn’t last very long before Linkara came, the stimulation from all sides too much for him to handle. He thrust hard into Ayla, screaming as he broke. She gasped and followed, her body arching into him, her breasts pressed to his chest. Jaeris choked and moaned as he came, biting hard on Linkara’s shoulder.   
  


After a moment, they all three stilled and Ayla climbed off of Linkara, allowing them to disentangle themselves. Linkara collapsed, panting.  
  


“Can you two go without me for a few rounds?” he asked breathlessly.  
  


Ayla grinned at him. “We’ll try,” she said, crawling over him and kissing Jaeris.  
  


“No promises, though,” Jaeris added, clutching his wife around the waist.  
  


Linkara merely closed his eyes and prepared himself for when he would be ready again.  
  


*  
  


Twenty-four hours later, they finally all collapsed, exhausted, having tried every possible position and combination. Ayla lay nestled between her boys, Linkara curled up behind her, her head resting on Jaeris’s chest, both of them clutching her tight.  
  


Linkara kissed the back of her neck gently. “Seriously, though,” he said, yawning. “Learn to keep better track of this.”  
  


“You like it,” Jaeris muttered sleepily.  
  


Linkara grinned at him. “Yeah,” he admitted. “I do.” He closed his eyes. “Love you. Both of you.”  
  


“Love you,” Ayla muttered.  
  


“Love you,” Jaeris sighed, and they all three drifted off to sleep.  
  


**_The End_ **


End file.
